Grand opening for CTE hospitality suite held at Mount Vernon High School

Students completed a live empanada-making demonstration at the grand opening of the new hospitality suite at Mount Vernon High School. The newly repurposed space will allow students in the Career and Technical Education Hospitality Management Program to learn and practice hospitality skills, such as catering and event planning, and collaborate with Culinary Arts students. The suite officially opened on Monday.

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“This room is what happens when you dream big,” said Director of CTE Brian Simmons. “This room is a vision that was had, and the students in here are the embodiment of that vision. Back in August of this past year, 2024, this room had walls built up, there were no resources in here, there was no equipment.”

To open this space, the CTE Department utilized resources that were already available within the District. For example, they repurposed unused home economics equipment from Benjamin Turner Academy. They also used an existing space at MVHS and transformed it into a fully equipped suite for the Hospitality Program to continue and grow in, with no additional funding. 

“It is very impressive what our CTE Department has been able to accomplish by making this space ready for students this school year,” said Acting Superintendent Dr. K. Veronica Smith. “In just its first year, our Hospitality Program is already growing to provide students with more meaningful opportunities, while using equipment and space that we already have to make it happen.”
 

The suite is equipped with a selection of dining and food preparation materials, including a three-tier sink, steel tables, an unused convection oven, and other hospitality equipment. Staff from the Operation and Accountability Department worked to equip the suite by moving equipment, connecting appliances, and making sure everything worked so that it was ready for students. Students shuffled from station to station, using new equipment to prepare the empanadas for the guests at the grand opening.

“This is called collaboration and working together, which is exactly what all of you (the students) are doing right now,” said Mount Vernon Board of Education Trustee Warren Mitchell. “Working together, you’re going to be sous chefs, line chefs; you guys are going to run your own businesses.”

Mixers and food supplies were donated by Food Network, who has a connection to the CTE Department through Kat Rodriguez, the first-year Hospitality teacher. Goya also sponsors the Hospitality Program and provided a truck-full of food supplies for students to use in the class. Rafael Toro, Goya’s national director of public relations, also spoke at the grand opening 

“There was a foundation here of a program that involved food, of a program that involved culinary instruction, and that foundation was strong as is,” said Ms. Rodriguez. “I have the luxury and the pleasure of adding to that and building that from where it was, but it was already built, and it was built strong. I cannot take all that credit for myself; I have to give it to Chef (Samantha) Cohen.”

With the opening of this suite, the pre-existing programs of Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts will be reconfigured into front of house and back of house, with coordination between students, so that students will learn about careers in all sectors of the industry. Students will start with their first class in Introduction to Hospitality and Culinary and branch off into one of the two programs.

“It’s a very comfortable space,” said Kihanna Johnson, 11th-grade hospitality student. “It helps really well because there’s more space and more opportunities for students to be in Hospitality and Culinary and understand how the culinary industry works through this class.”

Students in the Hospitality Program have learned skills such as knife skills and measuring, and they also made pizza earlier in the year. The empanadas were the second meal they made this year. 

Click to read more about the Hospitality Management Program. 

Click to view before pictures of the hospitality suite.