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Baldwin High School students pursuing the culinary arts will have even more college preparation with a partnership between the Baldwin County School District and Helms College.
Through this partnership, students are eligible to receive a scholarship of up to $10,000 to join the Culinary Operations in Resorts and Clubs program at Helms College. In addition, students will now have the chance to earn high school credits and transfer them as college credits.
“If our culinary students at Baldwin High School complete our Culinary Arts pathway, which is three classes, they have the opportunity to transfer those credits to Helms College. This will ensure they will not have to retake any classes and can carry their skills over with ease,” said Natalie Stowe, Baldwin Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education director.
The culinary program at BHS is split into three classes: Introduction to Culinary Arts, Culinary Arts I and Culinary Arts II. Each of these classes have an academic component but primarily put an emphasis on a lab component.
“The lab component allows students to go into our kitchen and learn how to apply all of the standards that they’ve learned. These skills range in difficulty depending on the class but they are essential to making these students career ready,” said Stowe.
Career pathways are a part of the BHS College and Career Academy.
Through this academy, the school creates classes, experiences and partnerships that will prepare Baldwin graduates for the adult world whether they choose to attend college or find a job out of high school.
“Our academy is always being prepared for the future. Our career pathways are decided by analyzing industry and labor market needs. We focus on how wage has skill and what those main career fields at the time are,” said Stowe. “That is always changing so our program adapts to meet the needs and jobs that are presently there.”
The culinary career pathway is one of these popular programs and due to Helms College and BHS sharing a similar pathway for the culinary career, the articulation agreement was created as a way to extend this pathway towards students’ future. This agreement will be renewed annually and will affect current seniors, graduates as of the last 12 months and future seniors.
“Baldwin High School has had a strong focus on creating career pathways for its students for some time, and we are very proud to partner with such a strong and well-respected institution,” wrote José Mallabo, senior vice president of marketing and admissions at Helms College on their blog post announcing the agreement. “We look forward to seeing the impact Baldwin alums will make on the Helms community this fall and for years to come.” In this blog post, it was also mentioned that Helms College will provide pre-enrollment and academic advising to Baldwin High School graduates, which will include credit completion for all programs, information related to financial aid and student support.
“We are super excited to have another opportunity to further student success when they graduate to pursue the military, enter the workforce or pursue higher education,” said Stowe. “This is just one more path to help them achieve their career goals.”