Students prepare pies for Thanksgiving

Culinary arts students Megan Carlson and Kelsey Owens pour the filling for pecan pies.

Nevada Daily Mail

Students in the Nevada Regional Technical Center's culinary arts program get plenty of hands-on experience, preparing all sorts of items for the student operated Cafe 27 in the Bowman Building. But this week, they've been assigned another project. They're preparing pies for a free community Thanksgiving dinner to be served in the commons area at Nevada High School on Thursday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Superintendent Dr. David Stephens said the Thanksgiving dinner came about because there was a rise in the number of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. It's open to anyone in the community who wants to come, and anyone who wants to volunteer to serve or clean up is welcome to do so -- someone will have to serve up all those pies the culinary arts students created.

Jordan Olson, a senior in Nevada Regional Technical Center's culinary arts program, prepares the filling for a peaches and cream pie.

The culinary arts students were hard at work Tuesday afternoon, preparing a wide variety of tasty treats from which the Thanksgiving guests will choose. There were pumpkin pies, of course, and fruit pies, cream pies and pecan pies.

With business-like precision, they measured, stirred, poured and whipped, from time to time alerting the others in the kitchen to dangers like a hot pan being carried through the kitchen. Attention was paid to cleanliness and etiquette in the kitchen, and as pies went into the oven the kitchen continued to buzz with activity as each student fulfilled his or her role in preparing the pies for Thursday's guests.

Instructor Louise Lunkenheimer said that about nine pies were made in the morning, and another batch of similar size was made in the afternoon, to be delivered to the high school by the students on the bus.

Culinary arts students Ian Clinton and Jayden Douglas man the mixers.