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Health & Fitness

LOLHS Culinary Academy Dishes It Up for the Deaf

The Land O' Lakes High School multi-million dollar culinary academy merges with the American Sign Language program to host not only a memorable meal, but a learning experience for all.

Last week the culinary arts academy of Land O' Lakes High School hosted a lunch in its multi-million dollar facility. Although the students had put on catering events like this before in the same real-life setting, last week's lunch was a brand new experience for them.

The culinary academy hosted a mock "dinner party" for LOLHS American Sign Language students, who ate the meal playing the role of various deaf or hard of hearing celebrities and well known professionals. The ASL students, under the direction of Mrs. Heymann, used only sign language to communicate throughout the entire meal which lasted just under an hour. The "deaf" students were assisted by an interpreter, but with only one interpreter and many students, communicating with those outside of the ASL students was a bit difficult.

When asked if serving deaf people was difficult, culinary student Robert Sturm said "No. I'm in ASL too so I can communicate."

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For those students who did not have any knowledge of sign language, the hardship was taken as preparation for their future career in the culinary industry.

"It's rewarding working in a real world setting; a business environment," said Jason Greer, LOLHS culinary student. "You never know what you'll run into. Don't be surprised. You'll get used to it."

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The culinary academy prepared Caesar salad, fettuccine Alfredo with chicken in a homemade Alfredo sauce, as well as brownies and cookies to top off the meal for the ASL students. The meal was cooked under the supervision and instruction of Chef Rigberg, the culinary academy's teacher. The meal required two to three days of prep work, as well as about three hours to cook.

What makes the culinary academy different than the instruction provided in a basic food prep class according to the culinary students, is the business education side of cooking which was definitely something the Land O' Lakes High School culinary students experienced with the ASL dinner party.

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