A Penn London Elementary School student uses candy corn to decorate his snicker doodle cookie, during a recent visit to the Technical College High School (TCHS) Pennock’s Bridge Campus Culinary Arts in Penn.
WEST GROVE — Technical College High School (TCHS) Pennock’s Bridge Campus Culinary Arts students recently hosted 25 Kindergarten, first and second grade students from Penn London Elementary School. The students visited as part of a special Thanksgiving field trip where they toured the kitchen, decorated cookies, had a snack and read a book about the importance of giving thanks.
The group included learning support, autistic support and life skills classrooms. “This trip allows the students to come together in a different environment and interact with new students, especially high school students,” said learning support teacher Michael Harrison. “It is a neat thing to see. The social interactions are built-in and provide a more naturally occurring experience.”
After receiving a tour of the TCHS Pennock’s Bridge kitchen, the Penn London students decorated a large snicker doodle cookie. Culinary arts students made the cookies the previous day in preparation for the trip. Using colored frosting and candy corn, the cookies were decorated to look like turkeys. “I made the greatest turkey in the world,” exclaimed a second grade student named Kenny. Other students chimed in explaining the best part of the day. Michael, a Kindergarten student, liked seeing the kitchen. His classmate Sara liked decorating with candy corn. Second grade student Nadya smiled shyly as she said, “I liked everything!”
Culinary Arts students Nick Sullins and Cristian Franco show off snicker doodle cookies decorated by students from Penn London Elementary School in the Avon Grove School District.
Community events like this field trip help TCHS Culinary Arts students gain valuable experience working on different projects with various age groups. Five students assisted with this trip and they all want to work in the culinary field in some capacity. “The experience is good,” said Nick Sullins, a senior in the program. “We don’t usually work with kids, so it gives us practice to work with them.”
Another student, Cristian Franco, not only assisted with the prep work and helped the elementary children decorate their cookies, but he also read to them a book about Thanksgiving. “You need to go with the flow,” he said as he laughed. “But the kids get to see a real kitchen and have a good time. Who knows, maybe they will want to be in Culinary Arts one day too.”
For more information about the Culinary Arts program at the TCHS Pennock’s Bridge Campus, please visit www.tchspennocks.org. Applications are currently being accepted.
