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Executive Chef Don Conner Visits NETC Culinary Arts Program
By Gary Dotterer
NE Technolgy Center
gdotterer@netechcenters.com
The Culinary Arts programs at Northeast Technology Center were designed to serve one of the nation's largest employment sectors, the food service industry.
There are a wide variety of specialized occupations within this field that are available for qualified individuals. Restaurants, hotels, hospitals, schools, fast food operations, caterers, cafeterias, and many other businesses employ food service workers.
The Culinary Arts program at NTC teaches every phase of modern commercial food preparation and service, and gives students the knowledge of how to prepare and serve a multi-course meal for two or two-hundred. Along with classroom and lab activities from time to time a special guest speaker is invited to show students new ways to prepare meals and give individuals some hands on learning activities.
Recently Executive Chef Don Conner from Sysco Foods visited the NTC Pryor Campus to teach students how to prepare a few seafood dishes and to instruct them on proper cooking techniques with some appetizing culinary delicacies.
With assistance from students, Chef Conner steamed mussels served in a butter parsley garlic sauce, baked bacon wrapped scallops, and angel hair pasta covered in a cream based clam sauce.
Chef Conner a former part owner of the DaBoat Restaurant located in OKC in the "Bricktown" area was a graduate of the Culinary Arts program at Tulsa Technology Center before he began honing his culinary skills at OSU-Okmulgee. |
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Visiting Chef Don Conner, Executive Chef from Sysco Foods teaches students how to prepare a few seafood dishes and to instruct them on proper |
Chef Conner received his Bachelors Degree from OSU in Stillwater in 1985. He also was an Oklahoma State SkillsUSA first place winner and a sixth place winner at the National SkillsUSA competition in Birmingham, Alabama. Chef Connor's visit was made possible through a "Business Development Team" program sponsored by Sysco Foods.
Executive Chefs such as Don Conner travel to customer sites of Sysco Foods in Northeast Oklahoma to teach and demonstrate various techniques used in commercial kitchens and restaurants.
One of Don's goals is to eventually teach a Culinary Arts program like the one at NTC.
"The Northeast Technology Center Business Development Team helps assist our clients with menu creation, development, and training of their staff. We also show our customers how to be more successful in a very competitive field," said Chef Conner.
NTC Culinary Arts students that placed second at the ProStart Student Invitational Culinary Cup held on the campus of Oklahoma University. Pictured from left to right are; Micah Robertson a first year student and junior from Oologah, Elyse Thurston a first year student and senior from Claremore, and Amanda Huffman a first year student and senior from Pryor. |
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OSU/Okmulgee, well known for its hospitality program, features a large serving room which caters to on campus student training in areas such as culinary concepts, bread and pastry production, food service management, Ala Carte Cooking, Quantity Food Production, Buffet Cooking, Meat Fabrication/Food Purchasing, and Dinning Room Operation.
NTC has articulation agreements with colleges/universities like OSU/Okmulgee where students can earn college credits towards and applied science degree upon satisfactory completion of a 1050-hour program. The student can earn those hours after completing the necessary basic classes at the accredited college. For more information contact Tom Girten, Student Services Director at 918-825-5555., or visit their website at http://www.netechcenters.com |
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