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By Avery Cole

Sprinkling cinnamon over her tortillas, sophomore Lillian Schleicher gets them ready to put in the oven.

In Mrs. Dieckhoff’s silver two Culinary Essentials class, students gain valuable experience through the ServSafe certification. By completing the certification, students are able to add it to their resumes in order to give them a leg up in the food industry. The certification can be used to apply for part-time positions in high school or full-time career options in the future that involve knowing food safety basics. Dieckhoff explained the specific ways that the ServSafe certification can benefit her students.

“It’s really good for any jobs that might involve working in the food service industry,” Dieckhoff said. “Restaurants, grocery stores, delis, anything like that.”

ServSafe certified senior Ava Cash appreciated the value of being able to use the certification on her resume. 

“If I’m ever looking for summer jobs, I will use it for that,” Cash said. “Or if I ever wanted to go into that field, it would look better on my resume. I just know that it could benefit me.”

Dieckhoff had a plan and reason that she decided to start having her kids go through the certification process. She wanted her students to leave her classroom with assets they could use in the real world. 

“We want students to have those market value assets when they leave high school,” Dieckhoff said. “Certifications are things that they can then go out and use in the workplace.”

In order to earn their certificates, students had to take a 50-question standardized test. They spent several class periods learning and reviewing the information. Dieckhoff taught her students the same information she had previously, she now just went more in-depth.

“It’s a lot of handling food safely, working in a kitchen and sanitation of a kitchen,” Dieckhoff said. “How to safely serve food if you were a waiter or waitress, cleaning up the facility and things like that.”

Dieckhoff plans on continuing to have her students take the certification test in the future. The certification is good for three years, but students can retake the test online at any time to renew it. Cash agreed with Dieckhoff, thinking that the ServSafe certification is a valuable thing to have. 

“Yes, I think it really helps,” Cash said. “It makes sure whoever’s doing the class is gaining experience and knowledge in the field.”