MHS Supper To-Go
Supper To-Go
Sophomore Dom Giovacchini is part of the work crew for Supper To-Go, which is why he spent a recent Tuesday afternoon boiling and cutting pasta in the Fast Break Cafe kitchen during Period 5.
That pasta was used for a “hearty beef” lasagne, the first entree offered by Messalonskee High School’s Job Skills/Enterprise Group this fall. Students produced creamy chicken alfredo with broccoli for the second entree.
Both are still available, frozen for reheating, at $10 per entree. Proceeds from the sale help to fund the Job Skills/Enterprise Group program (click the attached link for more information).
“It’s alright,” Giovacchini said about the pasta duties. “I mean that is what a job is. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
What Giovacchini describes is exactly the goal of the program, designed to teach home cooking and pre-vocational skills, according to Heather Kerner, one of the Supper To-Go coordinators.
“We are trying to work on job-readiness skills,” Kerner said. “We started this group at the middle school several years ago, and it worked very well.”
Other meals are already planned. In coming weeks, the program will offer the following choices:
- Homemade mac-n-cheese with broccoli (10/17)
- Chicken Caesar salad (10/24)
- Chicken fingers and fries (10/31)
- Rice and bean taco bowls (11/7)
Kerner said she and her fellow Job Skills/Enterprise Group educators teach students a variety of invaluable hard and soft skills through the program.
One of the rubrics they use evaluates students on vital workplace factors such as reliability, work quality, productivity, hygiene, positive interactions, and safety.
Kayla Madore, who runs the special ed for functional life skills program, has similar goals for her students who run the Fast Break Cafe, a program started about 15 years ago, that provides a wide assortment of breakfast foods and drinks (English muffins, bagels/croissants, breakfast sandwiches, hot and iced coffee, etc.) for students and staff on White Days during first period.
Between the two programs, Madore estimates about 30 Messalonskee students are involved in culinary preparation and distribution on a weekly basis.
Giovacchini said he got his first taste of the Job Skills/Enterprise Group when he was a student at Messalonskee Middle School, and he fondly remembers his initial impression.
“When I first got that back in middle school,” he said, “I thought it was the coolest thing ever.”