Broadmoor Offers New Classes

Photo by Haley Bell

Broadmoor Technical Center is now offering two new individual classes next fall. This is in addition to its immersive program, which involves several hours of baking or cooking classes. One of the courses, the Table Service Internship class, is restaurant-based, with training for barista, hosting and server positions; the other, CATERED, centers around catering.

They are both offered so that students can gain experience in the culinary field before they work at a real job. As an added bonus, all students in the restaurant-based class can keep the gratuity they make when acting as waiters and serving at their student-run ‘Broadmoor Bistro,’ averaging about $16-26 an hour.

“[If] you’re looking to have a part-time job with some income,” chef and Broadmoor teacher Bob Brassard said, “but you have no skills and you’re like ‘well I don’t really want to go out in the industry and feel uncomfortable about integrating into a job that I’m not really familiar with,’ you would enroll [in the class].”

The classes are mainly outside of regular school hours. The Table Service Internship course is on Tuesdays from 4-6 p.m. and Wednesdays from 3:30-9:30 p.m., while CATERED involves an online course and classes on Tuesday and Thursdays. In addition, CATERED students need to complete 12 catering “credits,” or participate in catering-related events.

Any SMSD student is eligible for these elective courses, and no pre-requisites are required. This differs from Broadmoor’s more-involved baking or cooking programs, which requires that students already have a FACS credit and demonstrate a culinary interest.

SMN junior Allen Pepito has taken cooking classes at Broadmoor since her sophomore year and is in the immersive restaurant program. She strongly recommends Broadmoor’s classes.

“Before I [took the course], I didn’t know how to properly plate food, and now I can,” Pepito said. “I used to be really nervous talking to people in a restaurant, and now I have people skills and can actually serve. It benefits people who want to try this program and learn something before they go into an actual job.”

For more information about the courses, students can contact Jonathon Dallen at jonathondallen@smsd.org about CATERED. Table Service Internship chefs Bob Brassard and Justin Hoffman can be reached through bcbrassard@smsd.org and justinhoffman@smsd.org, respectively.