GHS offers a variety of Family and Consumer Economics (FACE) classes where students learn skills that they will carry with them throughout their lives. Countless students have taken one of these classes and most have found recipes and projects they enjoy. Mrs. Friederick teaches the FACE classes.
“My students work on different units throughout the year, such as meats, pastas, and breads. After that, they get to practice their recipes. Through this practice, students can take their skills home with them and feel confident enough to make them for their family. They also have the experience to pursue a job in the food service world,” said Mrs. Friederick.
Students have the opportunity to take part in L.I.F.E class where they learn the basics of sewing and the fundamentals of cooking and baking. Students partake in sewing some days and making food in the kitchen other days. Evelynn Callahan ‘25 is currently taking the class.
“My favorite part of the class is making food in the kitchen,” she said. “Today we made avocado toast. My personal favorite thing we have made so far was salsa.”
Jakob Smitdt ‘25 has been working on his sewing, “I think that I can use the sewing skills I have learned in L.I.F.E class in my everyday life,” he said. After learning the fundamentals, students can take more advanced classes in the kitchen.
Many people enjoy taking Foods I & II. “I thought it was a really cool experience to be able to cook the recipes I wanted and have a lot of freedom in that class. It was beneficial to be able to take those skills and recipes home with me,” Ava Miller ‘22 recounted.
Many people who took Foods I & II discovered new recipes that they tried out at home. “I really enjoyed a salsa recipe we made in class one day. I started to make that salsa at home all the time,” said Kennedy Trautsch ‘23. Mrs. Friederick allows her classes freedom to explore different recipes where students can improve their skills in the kitchen.
The World Foods Class takes a different approach to making food. Each week the class prepares meals from different countries. The first week the World Foods class focused on preparing American food. Throughout the year, the class travels around the world, making foods from different cultures, all the while staying in Mrs. Friedericks classroom.
“In L.I.F.E we cooked a lot of basic foods, so I’m excited to cook new things and learn about foods from around the world,” stated Maddy Glasgow ‘22.
Some students have little or no experience working with food. Learning how to cook and bake can be difficult for students to get the hang of.
“Baking actually tends to be harder than cooking for a lot of kids,” Mrs. Friederick explained, “The measurements for baking are very precise and are much more difficult to fix. In cooking, however, you have more room for error to modify the recipe and be less precise.”
In FACE, students have the opportunity to learn and grow their skills in the kitchen and take their skills to the next level. The important life skills taught in Family and Consumer Science classes, whether they are simple or complex, are important for students to know, as they will carry them with them through the rest of their life.
