Being able to cook is a very important skill for students and adults to have.

Graves has 3 Culinary classes: Foods and Nutrition, Culinary 1, and Culinary 2. These classes give students a way to learn how to cook healthily and independently.

Ms. Whitney Clark, a culinary teacher at Graves County High School stated that “Students need to know the basics because you have to cook at some point in your life. Husband or wife, you have to cook if you have children. We can’t just eat out every day for the rest of our lives.”

Ms. Clark originally decided to go to school to become an English teacher, but had a passion for Culinary.  She later decided to go to Culinary School, and combine both passions to teach high school students with a Family Consumer Science Degree.

After her students graduate, they carry her teachings with them for the rest of their lives. Many former students are still in contact with Ms. Clark, occasionally asking questions for certain recipes:

“I have kids that have gone onto Culinary School. I actually have one that is a chef at a restaurant in Downtown Paducah.”

Ms. Clark explains that cooking doesn’t have to be a complicated ordeal: “We try to get in there and do fancy stuff, but if you learn the basics on how to cut certain things properly, or how to make simple sauces, you can build off of that.”