Lucas Harward, staff writer
Beverly’s culinary arts program is hosting an open house on Oct. 30 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the third floor patio. The event will be luau-themed, featuring Hawaiian cuisine prepared by the students and overseen by Chef Rick Leece.
According to Leece, menu items will include spicy teriyaki chicken, pulled pork, POG-style mahi mahi, ahi poki, Hawaiian style spring rolls, crab salad sliders and Hawaiian style pizza, to name a few.
Junior Joel Gabai, a culinary arts student, hopes that the open house will increase the popularity of the program and attract more students for the future.
“We just want to get our word out to parents and staff to get them more familiarized with the program, and attract students who have an interest in joining the class next year,” Gabai said.
Leece believes that the open house will not only showcase the students’ skillset and what they have learned, but also set the tone for the rest of the course’s events for the coming year.
“Depending on how the first one goes, we’ll hopefully have another open house for second semester. We’ll also be catering for Career Day, which is a pretty big event, but besides those we always do catering for lunch events and meetings that the school is having,” Leece said.
Senior Jonah Malkin, another culinary arts student, is confident that the event will gain more recognition and support for the program and the students in it.
“I think the open house is a great opportunity for us students to show off our skills as chefs,” Malkin said. “It will also give faculty and parents an opportunity to taste the type of food we make and help them recognize the importance of continuing to fund culinary arts.”