Culinary Students Win Awards at ProStart to Culminate CTE Month

Culinary Arts High School students from across St. Lucie Public Schools competed at Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association Education Foundation (FRLAEF) ProStart competitions in Orlando, Florida, and came out winners! Their accomplishments deserve celebration! Congratulations to: Fort Pierce Central High: Nicholas Leonardi-third for ProStart Edible Centerpiece, fruit carving, Aristhene Thelisnort-FRLAEF $2,000 college scholarship, Jerimiah Telusma-FRLAEF $2,000 college scholarship, and Aristhene Thelisnort-ProStart Hospitality Excellence recipient. Aristhene is attending IRSC for Culinary Management in the fall, Nicolas is attending Tallahassee Community College in the fall then transferring to FSU to study Technological Engineering, and Jeremiah will be attending The Culinary Institute of … Read More

Chart Your Course: Maritime & Marine Career Expo

St. Lucie Public School students (middle and high school students) participated in the Chart Your Course: Maritime & Marine Career Expo.  This event was hosted by the Fort Pierce Yacht Club Foundation in partnership with the Career & Technical Education department (St. Lucie Public Schools).  This career expo provided opportunities for students to learn about various career pathways available to them in St. Lucie County.  Local Maritime and Marine business representatives provided information on skills and education needed for various career options, along with guided knowledge on obtaining career goals. The day afforded each student the time to explore post-secondary … Read More

Northport K8’s Culinary Students Cater PSL Citizens Summit

Northport’s Culinary Arts program students catered the Citizen Summit the first Saturday of February which kicked off CTE Month!  They held after-school cooking sessions to prepare for the event.  Select students attended Saturday’s event with Mrs. Tredor, Mrs. Butterworth, Mrs. Sharrah, and Mrs. Bailey where they plated and served over 700 food samples to the public citizens attending the event. A big thank you also goes out to Mr. McDonald who stayed late with us to offer his expertise as well.

Culinary Arts Advisory Board Members Meet

St. Lucie Public Schools Culinary Arts Program teachers virtually met with their Advisory Board members. Teachers and business partners discussed plans for Derby Day, IRSC Open Houses, the Sunshine Kitchen Cookoff, SERV Safe, and Food Safely industry certification testing. The culinary teachers and students are busy, busy, busy this time of year planning catering events, Proms, sports concessions, senior celebrations, ProStart Competition, SkillsUSA competition, and more.

Outboard Marine Service Technology Virtual Field Trip

St Lucie Public Schools middle school students participated in a Virtual Field Trip to St. Lucie West Centennial High’s Outboard Marine Service Technology Program. The middle schoolers were able to see hands-on activities on electrical troubleshooting, engine mechanics troubleshooting, and marine service lab activities, and ask questions. Big thanks to Mr. Bob Kachanis Outboard Marine Service Instructor, his students, the St. Lucie Public Schools Media Services team for recording, St. Lucie West K8, Southern Oaks Middle, Oak Hammock K8, Dan McCarty Middle, and Allapattah Flats K8 for a great field trip!

Centennial Marine Program Meets with Advisory Board

St. Lucie West Centennial High School’s Outboard Marine Service Program teacher met with his Advisory Board. Local marine industry members virtually met with Mr. Bob Kachanis to collaborate on classroom projects and industry needs. More meetings and activities are planned. Big thanks to Rob Abbott-Oceanwide Electronics, Justin Beard-Marine Industry Association of the Treasure Coast, Jim Dragseth-Shearwater Marine, John Helfrich-Grand Banks Yachts, and Tracy Campbell-Grand Banks Yachts.

Career & Technical Education Entrepreneurship Mentors, #CTEmonth

Career & Technical Education (CTE) teacher, Mrs. Jasmine Shepherd, lead teacher for the Sports, Recreation & Marketing program at Port St. Lucie High School, is strengthening her students’ connection to community and business experts. Mrs. Lisa Cobb (Executive Director – Youth Empowered to Prosper) and Mr. Jordan Harold (Founder & Entrepreneur of Black Chain, a bitcoin company) were guest speakers for Mrs. Shepherd’s students and are now serving as mentors.  Later this month, Mrs. Sheena Heppern of REAS Marketing, will be a guest speaker. Mrs. Shepherd’s students are preparing for the CTE Entrepreneurship Showcase coming up in April 2024.  The CTE office has worked … Read More

TCHS Engineering & Manufacturing PreApprenticeship to Apprenticeship Connection

Treasure Coast High School’s (TCHS) Engineering and Manufacturing program students learned about Apprenticeship opportunities available to them after high school graduation.  Students in the program were then able to register for one of two available pre-apprenticeships (Welding or Industrial manufacturing) while enrolled in the program at TCHS.  Thank you to Ms. Colleen Gill (CareerSource Research Coast – Apprenticeship Navigator) for presenting to Mr. Phil DePuy’s students. (Photos courtesy of Mr. DePuy) #CTEmonth

CTE Month, February 2023

Thank you Career and Technical Education Teachers, Coolest Teachers Ever! CTE Month is observed to recognize the accomplishments of students and educators and highlight the collaboration among local leaders, businesses, and industry partners that contribute to the success of CTE programs across Florida.   Florida has nearly 800,000 K-12 CTE students – the highest in the state’s history – more than 380,000 postsecondary CTE students, and over 17,000 registered apprentices.

Culinary Students Serve the Community at Port St. Lucie Citizen Summit

Culinary students from Port St. Lucie High School and Northport K8 made the community smile with their chef jackets and conversation.  The food was delicious and many came back for seconds of the ham pickle roll-ups, Key Lime cheesecake dip, banana bread, coconut rice crispy treats, Caprese skewers, and Port St. Lucie High’s signature wontons with ginger dipping sauce, and Caribbean shrimp with fruit salsa.

Allapattah Flats Ag Students Prepare for Fair 2023

After school is a busy time for Allapattah Flats’ middle school students in Mrs. Dru Thompson’s Agriscience class.  Students are raising cattle, swine (pigs), goats, and chickens to show at the St. Lucie County Fair.  Good luck Gators!

St. Lucie West Centennial Culinary Arts Hosts Junior Achievement

As part of Junior Achievement’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, St. Lucie West Centennial High School Culinary Arts students, along with Chef Chris Gedke and Chef Evan Fraum, hosted Mr. Kyle Greene of Kyle G’s restaurants.  Mr. Greene shared his entrepreneurship story and the hard work that goes into owning successful restaurants.  The students were professional, polite, and engaged.  After the presentation, one of the students shared the following thank you message for Mr. Greene- “Thank you for coming to our school. We learned a lot from the visit that will help us in the future. I learned that for entrepreneurship we need … Read More

Northport Culinary Students Make Treats

Culinary Arts students at Northport K-8 are following kitchen safety protocols by creating rice crispy treats.  Some chose to drizzle melted chocolate or add mini M&Ms while others formed shapes such as hearts and snowmen.  The delicious treats were sold at the Northport K-8 Winter Band Concert!

St. Lucie Public Schools at Chart Your Course!

St. Lucie Public Schools middle and high school students participated in the Chart Your Course, Marine and Maritime Career Expo hosted at the Fort Pierce Yacht Club.  Local marine businesses demonstrated equipment and spoke about skills needed in the field.  Students were able to plan for their future and make connections to local career opportunities in the marine industry!

Port St. Lucie Jaguars Compete at SkillsUSA Culinary

Port St. Lucie High School Culinary Arts students competed at the SkillsUSA Culinary Competition in Kissimmee.  Good luck to participants; Vasilios Koumoundouros, Mikalah Christman, Calvin Diebold, and volunteer Kelvin Gonzales.  Go Jaguars!

Northport K-8 Culinary Students Make Pizza

Culinary Arts students at Northport K-8 were visited by Chef Damiano, a professionally trained Pizza Chef from Fresh Market.  The students were wrapping up their studies on pizza and used Chef Damiano’s dough.  The students made sauce with the Chef’s tomatoes imported from Italy and made pizza with fresh ingredients.  Delizioso!

Culinary Students at Northport K8

Culinary Arts students at Northport K-8 are learning how to be safe while cooking, and how to make better nutritional choices.   Students competed in a salsa challenge where each added a secret ingredient that was then judged by the school staff! The winning salsas were served at their school-wide Hispanic Heritage month event.  

Medical Detectives at SLWK8

Medical Detective Students at St. Lucie West K8 use microscopes for their protozoan classification lesson.  Students also participated in the St. Lucie County Regional STEM Fair!

Allied Health Programs Unite the Community with Blood Drive

Students from all over the county work with One Blood for their blood drive donation.  The majority of the schools utilize their Allied Health programs to host this voluntary event for their campus.  Just one blood donation can save up to three lives. Thank you to our CTE Month Sponsors: James Brann (Porch Factory), Sharita Walker (MidFlorida Credit Union), Certiport, Texas Roadhouse, Maddie Williams & the Treasure Coast Builders Association, Chris Russo (Howling Rooster), Robert Sharot (Carpets Etc.), and Jeannette Smith (NuSkin).      

Central’s Culinary Students Tour IRSC Hospitality and Tourism

Indian River State College Culinary Institute and Hospitality and Tourism Program hosted an educational tour for FPC’s Culinary students.  During the visit, the students were able to participate in the youtube simulcast of the No Vacancy Live podcast with Glenn Haussman and Anthony Melchiorri; and the guest was Greg Juceam, the President and CEO of Extended Stay America. It was an interesting day where students continued to build rapport with IRSC Professors, toured the IRSC Culinary Institute, met current IRSC students and FPC alumni, were served a delicious lunch, and were exposed to exciting aspects of the Hospitality industry. More … Read More