Natural Resources senior, and FFA club president Sam Hall receives the Mr. Natural Resources award from instructor Tim Kilpatrick at this year’s FFA year-end banquet, Monday evening, May 14.  The award is presented each year to the best overall student in the program.  This year, Brianna Arnold also won the Miss Natural Resources award for her service to the program and to the club.  Arnold is a Ridgewood senior and served this year as the club’s treasurer.

Approximately thirty club members and guests attended the year-end dinner meeting for Coshocton County Career Center’s local FFA club.  Club Advisor Bob Buxton welcomed guests and thanked the student officers for a year of hard work and service to the FFA organization. 

Those in attendance enjoyed a delicious dinner prepared by the school’s Culinary Arts program, under the supervision of instructor Michael Cichon.  The fare included Chicken Alfredo pasta, roasted potatoes, grilled vegetables, salad, garlic bread and pie, for dessert.

After dining, the club convened its final meeting of the year.  Each officer introduced him/herself and described their role as an officer. Following this, Mr. Duayne Patterson was recognized for his service to the club and as a coach to the Career Center’s NASP archery team, of which most FFA club members are also members.   Patterson, though not in attendance at the meeting, was granted honorary membership into the club’s local chapter.

Following this, Natural Resources program instructor Tim Kilpatrick presented individual awards to club members.  Senior James Rowe (Ridgewood) was presented the Lumberjack award for his tree climbing and chain saw skills.  Junior Matt Davis (River View), the club’s news reporter, was acknowledged with the Most Improved award.  Junior Brad Wilson (Newcomerstown), the club’s student advisor, took home the Ironman award for assisting the rest of the team members with his  strength whenever needed.  Junior Jordan Thompson (Coshocton), the  club’s secretary, was presented the Forestry award for his assistance in tree planting and tree stand improvement work during the school year.  Because of his unusual  skill and confidence with snakes encountered in the wilderness, senior Shawn  Cognion (River View), also the club’s Sentinel, was presented the Snake Charmer award.  Senior Dakota McConnell (River View), because of his leadership and mentoring ability, was given the Robin Hood award.  McConnell is the club’s Vice President.

Finally, the top female and male students who exhibited the best all-around performance in the program were presented the Miss Natural Resources and Mr. Natural Resources awards.  This year, senior Brianna Arnold (Ridgewood), also the club’s treasurer, and Sam Hall (River View), the club president, earned the awards, respectively.

After the meeting concluded guests enjoyed a slide show of the many activities in which club members have been engaged during the 2011-2012 school year.

Culinary Arts senior Skyler Luke serves a guest her salad at the Pomerene Art Center’s gala dinner, Saturday evening, May 12.  The five-course gourmet dinner, prepared and served by the Career Center’s Culinary Arts program to 40 guests, celebrated the close of the annual Dogwood Festival, a celebration of the arts in Coshocton.

Approximately forty community members attended the annual Dogwood Festival’s Gala Dinner event, Saturday evening, May 12^th at the Pomerene Art Center.  The event marks the close of the annual Dogwood Festival, designed to celebrate the arts in our community.  This is the sixth year the Culinary Arts program has prepared and served the dinner for the Pomerene Center. 

Culinary Arts instructor Mike Cichon and his students prepared a five-course, Asian-themed dinner for guests who paid $50 each to taste the oriental-inspired delicacies and enjoy musical and performing artists.  As students served the first two courses, patrons enjoyed light jazz music by HiFi Rendezvous, a local band that regularly performs around the region.  Then as the last two courses were served, illusionist Larry Pew entertained diners with his slight of hand antics.

The dinner began with a duck comfit eggroll, followed by a spring salad with ginger-soy vinaigrette dressing.  The third course was an egg drop soup, and was followed by guests’ selection of either beef or salmon, for the main course.  Both were sesame-seed encrusted and seared, served with Asian grilled asparagus in a teriyaki glaze, and rice pilaf.  Dessert, the final course, was an green tea Crème Brule.

“My students learn a great deal while prepping and cooking the different courses,” explains Cichon; “but they also see how plating and serving is critical in a fine dining experience, which is a great take-away from an event like this.” 

Cichon also noted that most all of the foods prepared and served came from local growers or producers.  He is active in Slow Foods, a consortium of local producers, restaurateurs and others involved in the food service industry, who believe in the quality of whole foods prepared fresh and with limited processing before consumption. 

SkillsUSA club officers [L-R] Heather McCormick, Brittany Dayton,  Joey Ervin, Mary Mace and Kim  Slaughter lead the other club members in the Pledge of Allegiance, opening the final SkillsUSA meeting of this school year, Thursday, May 10.

SkillsUSA officers conducted their final meeting of the year, Thursday, May 10, which began with a breakfast buffet prepared and served by the Culinary Arts program.  Over seventy members, Career Center staff members and guests attended the breakfast. 

For breakfast, guests selected from two egg casseroles, oven-fried potatoes, biscuits and gravy, sausage, fresh fruit and an assortment of Danish and muffins.  Coffee, tea and juice were also served.

After enjoying the delicious fare, the last formal business meeting of the student association was called to order by club president Mary Mace.  Local, regional and state contest participants and winners were recognized from the following programs:   Automotive Technology, Building Trades, Cosmetology, Criminal Justice, Electronics and Health Careers.

Finally, Health Careers instructor Joetta Teckmeyer, recognized those health care businesses who partnered with her program, offering her seniors their respective work assignments during the 2011-2012 school year.  Each Health Careers senior presented a certificate of appreciation to his/her employee.  Those businesses recognized included Autumn Health Care, Autumn Extended Care Facility, Coshocton Health and Rehabilitation, Ridgewood High School, Riverside Manor, Sycamore Run Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, and Windsorwood.

With the final business having been conducted, club advisor Steve Ervin closed the meeting by thanking club officers for a year of hard work and service to the club and to the Career Center, in general.

Winners of the OTC-Edelbrock Carburetor contest are pictured [L-R]:  Michael Jones and Brendon Wriston (First place); Michael Freetage and Josh Love (third place) and Kevin Shroyer and Kane Wilkie (fourth place).

Six juniors in the Coshocton County Career Center’s Automotive Technology program travelled to Norwalk, Ohio, where they spent a beautiful sunny, May 6^th, earning money for their futures. 

Along with their instructor, Randy Orsborn, the students took part in the U.S. Army High School Nationals, a racing conference and industry showcase sponsored, in-part, by Purpose Green a local plastics recycling company.  As part of the event, the students participated in a auto mechanics challenge offered by Ohio Technical College, in partnership with Edelbrock Carburetors.  The three, two-man teams took first, third and fourth places out of 14 teams.

For the challenge, the two-man teams had to take a 30 minute written test, followed by a 50-minute hands-on challenge, requiring them to disassemble and reassemble an Edelbrock carburetor, adjusting the fuel float and drop levels, while doing so.  The hands-on challenge was a timed event, where the fourteen participating teams were divided into three heats, with the top-finishers pitted against one another in the ‘final challenge’heat.

When all was said and done, the team of Michael Jones and Brendon Wriston each walked away with a first place finish, earning a $5,000 scholarship to Ohio Technical College in Cleveland, where they both say they intend to go.  Finishing in third place, and each earning a $3,000 scholarship, were Micheal Freetage and Josh Love.  Placing fourth, earning a $1,000 scholarship, were Kevin Shroyer and Kane Wilkie.

The participating teams’ schools were provided a model carburetor, in advance of the competition, that they will be allowed to keep in their program labs for use with future students.  First place finishers Jones and Wriston agreed that their hard work and dedication paid off.  The also acknowledged that Dennis Rine and Randy Orsborn, both, were invaluable to helping them prepare mentally.  “It was a realy joy to watch these young men prepare and to compete,” said Orsborn.  “A lot of hard work went into it and they were willing to put in both the time and the effort it took to be successful.”

Also part of last Sunday’s showcase were timed racing events, street and race car classes for off-tract judging, a team spirit event, a career fair and other informational displays set up for visitors.  Although the Career Center has participated in past years, this was the first year that students were entered in the carburetor contest.

Culinary Arts seniors Heather Sees, Caitlyn Lautzenheiser, Luke Mathias and Skyler Luke are pictured with their instructor Mike Cichon (Center) with some of the many seafood creations prepared by seniors in the program for the school’s annual Seafood Fest.  Students in the program, along with CCCC staff members were able to sample and enjoy the dishes that were prepared.

Career Center staff members and guests were treated to an exceptional culinary fare today as students in the school’s Culinary Arts program prepared a smorgasbord of seafood delights in celebration of the close of the school year.

“We try to have a seafood day every year,” says Mike Cichon, program instructor.  “We like to experiment with different ways to prepare different types of seafood so that my students have a chance to prepare and sample many varieties.”  Cichon says he lets each senior submit their recipe plan in advance to ensure that as many types of seafood as possible are featured and that they are prepared in as many ways as possible.

This year’s seafood fest included lobster mac and cheese, tilapia en papillote (seasoned and baked in parchment), crawfish etouffee, steamed shrimp, caviar crostini, catfish nuggets, clam chowder, mussels in garlic and wine over pasta, grilled scallops, and seafood gumbo, among other selections.

http://kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=LCJNHI_6f066d87