When Brooke Curtis’s food science students at Jackson County High School step into their classroom kitchen, they’re not just learning to cook – they’re potentially shaping the future of school nutrition across Georgia. Thanks to a $700 grant from HireSmart Cares, these aspiring culinary innovators get hands-on experience in recipe development, mass food production, and nutrition science.

Curtis, a food science educator, recently led 37 Jackson County juniors and seniors in an Fueling Georgia’s Future Student Chef Competition, which challenges students to develop recipes that could be implemented in school cafeterias statewide, with an emphasis on using locally sourced ingredients.

“Students must be innovative and create recipes that can be served in the school lunchroom, following strict nutritional requirements,” said Curtis. “They learn firsthand about the challenges of mass-scale food production while maintaining appealing flavor profiles for their peers.”

The program’s structure builds from fundamentals to advanced concepts across three levels. First-year students start with basics like healthy eating and MyPlate guidelines. Second-level courses explore nutrition through life cycles, including specialized diets and meal preparation for different age groups. By the third level, students dive deep into food science, studying macronutrients and their roles in cooking – knowledge they’ll need for the competition.

Working in laboratory groups of four to five students, teams take on specific roles, including head chef, assistant chef, organization chef, and sanitation chef. This professional kitchen hierarchy helps students understand the importance of teamwork and leadership in food service operations.

The competition process is rigorous and multi-faceted. Students begin by researching current cafeteria offerings and student preferences. They must then develop recipes that meet specific fat, salt, and sugar content criteria while ensuring their creations can

be replicated on a mass scale. A distinctive requirement is the use of Georgia-grown products, with 75-90% of ingredients needing to be locally sourced.

The Jackson County school nutrition director provides one-on-one consultations with each group, offering professional guidance.

“Once they create the recipe, we have our school nutrition director come out, and she helps them kind of analyze the recipe, and then we also kind of talk about dietitians and jobs in school nutrition and what they could do later on,” said Curtis. “Once they get their first round of the recipe, we then do taste tests with their peers, so they’ll go from class to class and let them have a little sample. And then their peers give them feedback about their recipe. Would they eat it if it was in the lunchroom?”

The HireSmart Cares grant helps offset the considerable expenses of running such a program. Food costs can quickly add up, with each group creating unique recipes and requiring multiple iterations for testing.

Beyond the competition, the program offers valuable industry credentials. Students who complete the food and nutrition pathway can earn ServSafe certification, a crucial qualification for restaurant employment. This certification and hands-on experience open doors to various career paths in the food service industry.

Students also learn practical skills in food budgeting and meal planning, including accommodating dietary restrictions. They study culinary techniques, sanitation protocols, and the complexities of large-scale food production — knowledge that proves valuable whether they pursue careers in food service or simply want to make informed decisions about nutrition.

Winning recipes at the state level could potentially be implemented into the School Lunch Program for all Georgia schools.

“While it is challenging and expensive, it is extremely beneficial for students,” said Curtis of the competition. “They gain a better understanding of the requirements of

school nutrition and the challenges of providing meals at a mass production scale. Students also learn the value of teamwork and the importance of practice.”

Through this program, students learn to think critically about nutrition, work collaboratively, and solve real-world problems in the food service industry. The recipes they develop today could be feeding thousands of Georgia students tomorrow.

HireSmart Cares provides financial support for programs like Curtis’s so that today’s youth can learn job skills and find successful careers. If you have a proposal for HireSmart to consider, email info@hiresmartcares.org.