Cooking in a Dream Kitchen Becomes a Reality
By: Shelia Mader
Sneads High School’s culinary students are stepping into a kitchen that finally matches their ambition. This year, thanks to months of effort and a teacher who never stopped believing in what they could accomplish, the school’s culinary program unveiled a fully renovated, modern workspace. What makes the upgrade even more meaningful is how it was paid for: through the hard work of the students themselves.
Culinary instructor Brooke Holmes administers three industry certification exams in her classes. When students pass, the state sends funds back to the program. Over time, those successful test scores added up, allowing Holmes to purchase new appliances and update the kitchen from the ground up. “Essentially, my students paid for it by passing their certification exams,” she explained.
The program serves 95 students this year, with teenagers across grades 9–12 enrolled in Culinary 1, 2, and 3. With the updated kitchen, students now have access to the kind of equipment they’ll find in real-world culinary settings. Holmes says the improvements have already made a noticeable difference; students can cook more often, practice with reliable tools, and develop life skills they’ll take with them long after they leave her classroom.
Inside her classes, students learn far more than recipes. They prepare full meals, clean and sanitize their stations, and even handle the laundry for aprons, towels, and mitts. Holmes believes these everyday tasks help her students learn responsibility and independence. She also begins with simple, balanced dishes to show them that good food doesn’t require expensive ingredients or long prep time. It’s a lesson she hopes will stick with them when they’re out on their own.
Holmes has always loved cooking, and the chance to turn that passion into a career at Sneads High School has been a perfect fit. She says she truly enjoys teaching both her male and female students and hopes to expand the program even further. After testing season wraps up this spring, she plans to introduce additional life-based cooking skills that many teens do not get elsewhere.
As proud as she is of the new kitchen, Holmes is even prouder of the effort it represents. “I would like to thank everyone who helped make this remodel possible,” she said. “But especially the kids who worked so hard to pass their tests to be able to fund this project.” For her students, the remodeled kitchen is more than a workspace, it’s a testament to what they can achieve when they put in the effort, together.
