Poudre High School students want to open food truck

A group of high school students wants to get in on the growing food truck industry in Fort Collins.

So on Monday morning, Cathy Toplyn's catering II class arrived well before the first bell. They wore puffy white hats and double-breasted white jackets, and lined up outside Poudre High School's main entrance to spread the news to all of their classmates.

Together with Toplyn and principal Kathy Mackay, catering students had launched their Community Funded campaign that day, with a goal to raise $35,000 in one month and start their own food truck business.

Toplyn had never heard of a high school running its own food truck, but she said the idea made sense for Fort Collins, where more than 30 mobile restaurants are operating around the city.

She also wants the school's food curriculum to stay relevant: "It's not cooking and sewing anymore," she said. "It's business and entrepreneurship."

"This is our project to get (students) ready for the workforce," she added.

Behind Toplyn's goal is a district-wide initiative to create "career pathways" for its high school graduates, according to Poudre School District career and technical education coordinator Kathy Hanson.

Following a nationwide re-branding of the old "home economics" model, Hanson said the district is moving toward a family and consumer sciences curriculum that is now, more than ever, very career-oriented.

"I've never been one of those people who thought about becoming an astronaut or the president," said Poudre catering student Alexa Mainwal, 17. "I've always been super-realistic."

Within the three-level catering track available at PSD high schools, the new question is, "What careers are out there to work in if you are a foodie and even want to go on to culinary school?"

And students across the district are responding. At Fort Collins High School, there were only four sections of culinary classes in 2008. There are 14 sections in the 2014-15 school year, and there will be 19 starting next school year.

Today's foodies, tomorrow's culinary artists

Students enrolled in PSD's food, nutrition, wellness and catering classes learn about industrial kitchens and farm-to-table practices. They even compete in "Iron Chef"-like cooking challenges.

New to PSD's culinary program next school year, though, will be an option for concurrent enrollment at Front Range Community College.

Students who complete the catering I and II classes with the district will receive six free college credits, along with a transcript from Front Range, Hanson said.

She thinks it will be a good starting point for students, because "a lot of them plan on going into culinary as a career."

Front Range offers eight subject areas, including culinary arts, within its high school co-enrollment Career Pathways program. The school also offers an associate of applied science degree in hospitality and culinary arts management.

"Personally, I want to open a restaurant," said Liam Stirling, 16, one of the catering students. "But to start with a food truck in high school is a great experience."

Mainwal and catering classmate Sam Woodson, 17, said they plan to move to California after they graduate, study culinary arts and open a live music venue and bistro together.

As for the PHS food truck, Mainwal said the concept should start simple, serving sandwiches, tacos and barbecue.

"We're trying to keep everything local and at least fairly healthy," she said. "But we're going with 'seasonal' because no one likes 'healthy.'"

From home to school to business

Mainwal's father is the main cook at her house; Stirling takes turns with his mom in the kitchen; and Woodson said she cooks dinner most nights for her two younger siblings and prepares their breakfasts on the weekends.

At events they cater together as a class, the students volunteer to be head chefs and sous-chefs. The rest are divided into groups that focus on planning and preparing specific courses.

They get a lot of their recipe ideas from Pinterest, but they also stray and add in their own spices and finishing touches.

Stirling said he balances sports with school and catering, which also acts as a job. He's paid $8.23 an hour to cater weekly or bi-monthly events outside of school, ranging from 15 to 500 people and lasting around eight hours from preparation to event finish.

Students have catered Board of Education meetings, 4-H club events, Health District of Northern Larimer County dinners and college fairs. The new food truck would allow them to cook at school sporting events and to cater off-site events more easily. For now, they use their own cars to transport food from the classroom kitchen.

During Monday's first period, the culinary students asked for "spare change" and other small donations from the students. They emphasized that all of the big donations would come from adults, so it was more important for their classmates to get the word out over social media.

"As far as crowd funding in education goes, it's just getting started," said Fort Collins-based Community Funded co-founder Ryan Stover. "But I think we're going to see a lot more of it."

He said students feel supported and empowered when they see the effects of a crowd-funding campaign, especially when they've been used to fundraising through traditional efforts like car washes or bake sales.

In one of their final classroom visits, Stirling and his team did get the inevitable question from one smart-aleck student.

"So do you have any food?" the student asked, waiting with his hand on the donations envelope.

"Not today, but we will if we get this food truck," Stirling replied quickly.

The student seemed content and donated $1 before passing it on to his neighbor.

Follow PHS's food truck

To check out Poudre High School's food truck fundraising campaign and video, visit the Community Funded website.

To find out more about Front Range Community College's culinary co-enrollment programs, visit the school's Culinary Arts page.