Student Chef Graduates from BGHS, Heads to Culinary School

Jacob Katz-Berger of Arlington Heights, a 2013 graduate of Buffalo Grove High School, certainly knows his way around the kitchen!  

His skills, hard work and ambition have netted him multiple scholarship and grant offers from culinary schools to achieve his dream of becoming a professional chef. He has accepted that scholarship money to enroll in the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, which will earn him a Bachelor of Culinary Arts degree in a little over three years' time and launch him in a successful career.     

Following two years of Foods classes at BG, he qualified for the rigorous ProStart program, a two-year national college level program offered only to high school students. Students have the option of using this program to better their career/college placement or to increase knowledge for personal use.  As part of the ProStart program, Katz-Berger and his peers prepared themed lunches in the school's student-run Bison Grill Restaurant.

Working in the school's commercial kitchen for paying staff members, administrators, school board members and parent groups throughout the school year, Katz-Berger and his classmates rotated between career opportunities within the "front of the house" (serving, bussing, hosting and managing positions) and the "back of the house" (learning the proper use of the commercial restaurant equipment, culinary techniques, safety and sanitation procedures, and serving as a lead chef), ensuring them a well-rounded educational experience. 

Upon completion of the program, students are tested for certification in ProStart. This certification has brought with it, acceptance into the finest culinary universities, scholarships, higher wages and better positions in the culinary field. Dual credit is offered at Harper College, for those who receive certification.
     
Buffalo Grove culinary arts teacher Ronna Pflanz commented, "Jacob is a student that took advantage of an opportunity. He went with his heart, and pursued an area of interest to him. He took the 'exploratory' meaning of the high school experience and turned it into something that he not only loved, but he worked it to his advantage. He was able to gain acceptance into the culinary university of his choice, and was awarded thousands of dollars a year in scholarship money, to do so. Without this opportunity, he may have never known what he was capable of doing."

— School District 214