Best Choice Schools recently released their 50 top culinary schools in the country, and our own St. Louis Community College-Forest Park was ranked #9 for its Applied Associate Arts degrees in Culinary Arts and Baking and Pastry.
Casey Shiller, the program director for the Baking and Pastry Arts program and two-time winner of the TV Food Network’s Cupcake Wars, said that both he and Ellen Piazza, the department chair, learned of the ranking on Facebook from their former students who were understandably excited about the honor.
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Unlike their for-profit competitors, St. Louis Community College’s culinary, pastry, and hospitality programs don’t spend a great deal of money advertising their degrees, so many outside of the industry may not even know they exist.
Insiders, however, are clearly familiar with the programs and their excellence. In addition to the recent ranking, the degrees carry “exemplary program status” from the American Culinary Federation, the accrediting body for the school. Upon graduation, students receive the “certified culinarian” or “certified pastry culinarian” titles on their chefs’ coats, Shiller explained.
What those same students won’t have that their peers graduating from for-profit culinary schools will is great debt. A full two-year degree in culinary or baking and pastry costs $7000 (compared to a for-profit degree that can easily cost five times that amount).
Something else that sets STLCC’s programs apart from for-profit culinary schools is the emphasis on general education courses. Shiller (right) said that their grads have the “soft skills employers are seeking from culinary graduates” thanks to gen-ed courses like English, public speaking, and psychology. “We’re very proud that our students have a rigorous education in the lecture classroom and the lab classroom.”
On the faculty side, all seven full-time faculty members have carried the title of Executive Chef or Executive Pastry Chef and have the appropriate bachelor’s or master’s degrees for their fields of expertise. “Student-focused,” the instructors have both the industry experience and the educational background to help their students succeed on and off the line, Shiller said.
The Best Choice Schools blurb about the culinary and pastry programs at STLCC references the unique capstone course at the school, and Shiller shed light on how the course works. Each semester, students take the capstone course as the final experience to apply what they’ve learned in a simulation of owning and running a restaurant.
For the next several weeks, until the semester ends in December, 10 or so graduating students will be responsible for one lunch (3 courses) or one dinner (4 courses) at the mock restaurant. In charge of all stations, from BOH (menu design, cooking, and dishwashing) to FOH (hosting and serving) and those crucial pieces many don’t consider (marketing, budgeting, food and employment costs), each student is assessed on the individual parts as well as the larger question: would your restaurant have turned a profit on this day?
At other culinary schools, teaching restaurants are open to the public, which is also the case at STLCC, but tickets must be bought in person at the cashier’s office on campus. To find out more about the upcoming meals, including dates and how to get tickets, email [email protected].
As area for-profit culinary schools close, 4-year universities see drops in enrollment due to the shrinking number of traditional-aged college freshmen, and community colleges have seen declining numbers because the economy is improving, the culinary programs at STLCC remain strong.“We’re always here,” Shiller said, continuing, “we’re the silent force to be reckoned with.”
