Advanced Culinary Arts Class Video

Timpview students are famed for their creative streak in the arts—Drawing and Painting, Ceramics, AP Art, and Art Foundations–but one art class not commonly remembered or considered is Timpview’s very own Advanced Culinary Arts class. With the class beginning just four years ago, Advanced Culinary Arts founder and teacher, Mrs. Nicholson, began this class with the goal of creating a space for students who did well in Foods 1 and 2, and who wanted to continue in the culinary arts.

“I expect that you already know the basics. So if I give them a basic recipe they should know how to use it, and then change it up and add their own spin on it,” Nicholson said.

While both the first two foods classes, and Advanced Culinary Arts alike, teach basic recipes and skills that will be used later on in life, the Advanced Culinary Arts class allows freedom for the students to express themselves through their dishes.

“My favorite part is days like this where I let them create something. So I see their creativity and what they can put together and all of that,” Nicholson said.

With the help of Nicholson’s 19 years teaching foods classes across varying schools, Nicholson is able to judge and award her Advanced Culinary Arts students based on factors such as presentation, taste, and creativity. These grading variables, that differ from the first two foods classes, help create a unique and fulfilling learning experience for the students. Rather than her students focusing on following the recipe and doing the bare minimum, they must learn how to expand recipes and have an intrinsic motivation to create something they can be proud of.

“You have to have drive and have to want to work. If you don’t have that, and don’t put forth the effort, a lot of kids don’t make it this far. It’s not just as easy A,” Nicholson said.