Rihanna Spencer didn’t know Washington High School of Information Technology had a culinary program until she transferred to the school last year, her junior year. Now she wants to make the culinary arts her career.

Specifically, the Washington senior wants to go into pastry arts.

“Culinary is really where my heart’s at. I love to bake,” she said in the high school’s roomy third-floor kitchen classroom.

“I’ve been baking for about three to four years with my mom. But then I actually started baking at school—cookies, cakes—and that amped up my skills just a little more,” Rihanna said. 

Baking comes easily to her, but she learned the culinary arts program is more than baking and cooking.  

"At first, I really didn’t like it,” she admitted. “I didn’t know what all came with culinary, like the cleaning and sanitizing — I thought it was just cooking. But I’ve grown to like all of it, the sanitizing, cleaning, wiping down, making sure everything is air tight.” 

And then savory instruction came before sweet in the class. 

“We did a lot of cooking at first. It was like, OK, the food’s good, but I want to make some cakes and cookies!” Rihanna recalled. Her patience was rewarded with a cake competition in class, where students were divided into groups.

She and a couple of her friends made a cake decorated in pink and blue. “It was really pretty — and very good,” Rihanna said.  

“I rarely cook; I mostly bake. I like to measure things; that’s one of my favorite things. I love the flour, the powder — it’s aesthetically pleasing to me,” Rihanna said.  

Baking is often described as a science because of the precision required for success and the chemical reactions baking is based on. Culinary classes can help develop students’ math skills and critical thinking, and activities like the group cake competition enhance collaborative skills.  

Rihanna and other culinary students attended a restaurant event where they learned about internships and scholarships available to students when signing on with a restaurant after turning 18. There, she met a woman working in pastry arts who told Rihanna about her own career path, how she knew she wanted to work in pastry instead of cooking, and the pros and cons of the job.  

“My conversation with her, it really just made me be like, ‘I think this is exactly what I want to do,’ " Rihanna said. 

Her culinary arts teacher, Sandra Knight Edwards, is instrumental in her success in culinary class, Rihanna said. Ms. Knight encourages students to try and try again until they’re successful.  

“The culinary staff plays a big role. We get a lot of support from the staff. We get a lot of help; you’re never really alone," Rihanna said.  “It’s very easy to communicate here.” 

Washington High School has turned out to be the right fit for Rihanna in more ways than one. 

“I’ve only been going here for two years, but they made me feel really at home. Any other school I went to, I never clicked right in, how fast I clicked in here. The students and the staff, they’re really supportive and communicative. They help a lot. You’ll feel at home here, for sure,” she said. 

Culinary instruction has grown in the past three years at Washington, said Ms. Knight Edwards. Three years ago, four students passed the national ServSafe course for food safety; 31 passed last year, and Knight Edwards is optimistic that 70 will pass this year.  

ServSafe certification can help students land a job, Ms. Knight Edwards noted. The State of Wisconsin requires all licensed food service establishments to have at least one certified food-protection manager on staff, and the ServSafe certification lasts for three years. Some of those students who passed last year went on to use the certification to help them gain employment, Ms. Knight Edwards said. Certification can help them earn a higher salary and can better position them when pursuing a career in the culinary arts or hospitality.  

“We’re giving them the tools that are necessary for their careers,” the teacher said.