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Our Schools

Chef's hats off to Leto culinary arts students

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published September 22, 2006

Leto High School culinary arts students won two competitions last year and placed second in the state contest, all while taking classes in a modified home-ec room.

They worked with conventional ovens and small stove tops. Broilers, steamers and the other equipment you'd find in a restaurant kitchen were nowhere to be found.

So imagine what these kids can do in a new state-of-the-art kitchen complete with gas stove, convection oven and 20-quart mixer. It took the school four years to make the lab a reality. Celebrating last week, the students were elated.

"My first year we didn't have so much space to work in. When we came in here, it was outstanding. It was a real kitchen," said senior Maribel Jaimes, who hadn't considered a career in cooking until getting a dose of the full kitchen experience.

Senior Bianca Baez, who plans to attend culinary school after graduation, loved how easy it became to prepare food in the new digs, because the tools she needs were there.

"Some people have bad opinions about Leto," Baez said. "We're just proving them wrong."

* * *

Julie Quintana remembers when Chamberlain High School seemed more like a neighborhood school. People attended sock hops after home football games. Teachers made careers there. Senior classes had 700 or more students, not the 300 or so that make it through today.

Before she retires in June, Quintana wants to rekindle some of the community spirit that dissipated with Chamberlain's growth. She hopes this, Chamberlain's 50th year, will spark a renewed energy as the school celebrates its alumni, educators and neighbors.

"We need to get that school spirit back," says Quintana, chair of the school's anniversary committee, who has taught at Chamberlain since 1971.

Chamberlain is Tampa's third-oldest continuously operating high school, behind Plant and Hillsborough. It's been home to a Florida governor Bob Martinez, who taught there, baseball stars (multi-time MVP Steve Garvey) and supermodels (Lauren Hutton), as well as police officers, car dealers and doctors.

It has had its miracle 1961 unbeaten state champion football team, its 1976 senior class that never got its graduation because of rain outs, and events large and small.

To mark this milestone, Chamberlain plans a 50th anniversary homecoming parade, football game and post-game sock hop on Sept. 29. The band and Chiefettes are recruiting alumni to participate in the 6:30 p.m. parade, and the school hopes to have several past homecoming princesses and high chiefs attend.

A dinner in conjunction with a basketball game is in the works for November, and a school reception and open house are planned for the spring.

Who knew a mile-long public trail runs through Blake High School's back yard?

Not many, say Blake faculty. Art students use the school's outdoor patios, rarely seeing anyone but an occasional angler casting a line into the Hillsborough River. But as more people move downtown and the Riverwalk project is completed on the other bank of the river, the trail's use is expected to surge.

To protect students, a 10-foot fence will be erected between the school and the trail. Blake parents and faculty want it to blend with the landscape so students don't feel jailed. To soften the view from the opposite banks, developer Bill Bishop plans to donate palms to dot the vista. The city will pay for the fence and maintenance of the trees.

The city negotiated the 12-foot-wide strip of concrete for public use as part of the agreement to build Blake in 1997.

* * *

Congratulations to two decorated teachers.

Barbara Knox of Burney Elementary is one of three Florida finalists for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. The state will announce its winner in October.

Karen Johnson-Folsom, lead teacher at Nature's Classroom, is the Florida Forestry Association's 2006 Project Learning Tree Facilitator of the Year for her commitment to environmental education.

Have ideas for future columns? Contact Jeffrey S. Solochek at solochek@sptimes.com or (813) 269-5304. Staff writer Elisabeth Dyer contributed to this report.

[Last modified September 20, 2006, 13:09:48]