PARMA, Ohio -- At Normandy High School, it turns out the pen -- and the spatula -- are mightier than the sword.
The latter kitchen tool represents the Parma City School District’s Career & Technical Culinary Program’s restaurant Sword & Shield, which is based out of Normandy High School.
“This a very rigorous two-year program that’s well respected in the community,” Parma City Schools Senior Culinary Instructor Iann T. Johnson said. “We make sure we’re providing the students with all of the skills they need to be successful after graduation, whether they’re going directly into the hospitality industry or continuing their education at the college level.
“They’re also able to get college credits and national certifications through this program as well.”
As for the Sword & Shield restaurant, Johnson said there’s no better experience during a non-pandemic year.
“We run a very busy lunch service,” Johnson said. “On a busy Friday, we can do 200 to 300 meals during the course of a few hours, so students get to see what it takes to be successful at the restaurant and in the hospitality field.”
Sword & Shield students truly relish the opportunity to create a top-notch culinary experience.
“I’ve known since middle school that I wanted to be a part of the program, hearing the opportunities and experiences it had to offer,” said Normandy High School senior Alicia Golden. “I’ve made lifelong friends and learned more than I ever could have imagined.”
During a typical school year, the Sword & Shield is open to the community and Normandy High School students and staff for lunch from October to May. However, due to COVID-19, nothing is normal.
While the career & technical culinary program -- which this year includes 18 juniors and 14 seniors -- spent the majority of the last year teaching remotely, socially-distanced students were able to participate in in-person lab work.
“We really focused on talking to the kids about how you need to be adaptable no matter what the situation is and how we need to re-think our traditional customer service methods,” Johnson said.
“We started to roll out different monthly preorder sales where we prepared carryout meals. It’s just been a way of looking at different avenues of producing the food and giving the students the opportunity to get those different experiences in the restaurant field.”
The next such affair is called “Mangia Madness” with the community picking up the food on Jan. 28.
The Sword & Shield carryout meal menu features chicken bacon mac and cheese, cavatappi pasta, roasted chicken and chopped bacon in a four-cheese cream sauce topped with a panko parmesan herb crust, broccoli alfredo, cavatappi pasta and broccoli in creamy alfredo sauce, Caesar salad, a loaf of garlic bread, brownies dusted with powdered sugar and salted caramel brownies.
Parma City School District’s Career & Technical Culinary Program students creating “Mangia Madness” meal. (Courtesy of Parma City Schools)
“If things were normal, we would be running our restaurant every week, but with everything we do being limited this is a way for us to still serve our community with the food that they enjoy and miss,” Valley Forge High School senior Nina Nedeljkovic said.
Normandy High School senior Alicia Golden added, “I’m so looking forward to ‘Mangia Madness’ since we’re getting to show to the community around us what we’re learning in class. We have the opportunity to share our dishes.”
While orders are no longer being accepted for “Mangia Madness,” Johnson said a soup and fresh-baked bread meal is planned for February with a Reuben and pierogi dinner coming in March.
“These meals really allow the students to look at volume cooking and how producing food on such a large scale is different from just cooking for the restaurant or home,” Johnson said.
“We really focus on keeping the utmost quality of the food. We get a really good response from the community.”
Read more news from the Parma Sun Post here.
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