High School Students learn about Culinary Opportunities at VGCC
Students in the Culinary Arts program at Northern Vance High School learned about where they could take their skills in the future when they visited Vance-Granville Community College’s Culinary Technology program on Nov. 12. The group of high school juniors and seniors were accompanied by their Culinary instructor, Julie Sokol, and Jane Hicks, the career development coordinator for NVHS.
VGCC’s two-year degree program, based at the Masonic Home for Children in Oxford, prepares students for entry-level professional positions in restaurants, hotels, catering operations, health-care facilities, schools and other institutions. Chef Ross Ragonese, head of the VGCC Culinary program, told the students that Hospitality is currently the number-two industry for job growth in the United States. He emphasized that “there is an endless amount of opportunities, both locally and everywhere around the world, for people with culinary and hospitality training.” Ragonese said that VGCC’s curriculum is modeled after some of the top culinary schools in the country, but is delivered in an affordable and accessible way. Ragonese reported that since he came to teach at VGCC in 2008, he has seen numerous students become employed in area restaurants and in health-care facilities. Enrollment in the Culinary Technology program has increased in recent years, and the chef hopes to grow it even more. He told the NVHS students that a VGCC education would open doors for them and distinguish them from other potential employees.
Ragonese introduced three of his VGCC students — Kevin Hartman of Oxford, Thomas Henderson of Warren County and Tonya Pendergrass of Granville County — to talk to the high schoolers and to answer questions. Henderson told students that, like them, he had started his culinary education with classes at Warren County High School.
The NVHS students took a tour of the kitchen, where they observed students in the Baking I class and then sampled puff-pastry desserts that the VGCC students had produced.
For more information about the Culinary program , call Chef Ross Ragonese at (919) 690-0312.
Above: From left, VGCC Culinary Technology students Kevin Hartman of Oxford, Thomas Henderson of Warren County and Tonya Pendergrass of Granville County talk with students from Northern Vance High School who were visiting the college’s Culinary facility at the Masonic Home for Children in Oxford. Standing at right is Chef Ross Ragonese, head of VGCC’s Culinary program. (VGCC photo)
