LPS students explore hospitality and food science careers at Nebraska Innovation Campus

November 25, 2024

A tour of food science processing labs, a visit to a local hotel and a chance to taste unique protein snacks were all on the educational menu for Lincoln Public Schools students this fall.
 
Students in Culinary II classes at Southwest High School and Northwest High School explored multiple careers during a trip to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Innovation Campus. They gained information about UNL’s food science and technology program and hospitality, restaurant and tourism management (HRTM) classes available on campus.
 
Northwest junior Megan and sophomore Abiyo said they enjoyed the field trip. The two Falcons joined a group that began the morning by exploring the Food Innovation Center. They then crossed the street for a behind-the-scenes tour of The Scarlet Hotel.
 
“It was fun to see more of what we learned in class,” Megan said. “Instead of just taking notes in class, we’re having an in-person view of what the career is like.”
 
“I enjoyed learning about hospitality,” Abiyo said. “The hotel was fancy and well-organized.”
 
Northwest senior Tationa also said she was impressed with the Innovation Campus. One of the highlights for her was learning about machines that make a variety of ice cream products.
 
“I really enjoyed seeing the different machines that they use for food processing,” Tationa said. “My favorite machines were in the ice cream and dairy area. Those were really cool to see how they work.”
 
Tationa said she also gained a great deal from the group’s trip through the hotel. The Scarlet Hotel features custom-made furniture, large round pillars in the lobby and a spacious rooftop patio. She is planning to major in architecture and interior design in college.
 
“I liked it a lot,” Tationa said. “It was fun. It was really interesting to see the architecture inside the hotel.”
 
Kristin Vest is curriculum coordinator of family and consumer sciences at LPS. She and LPS Career and Technical Education Curriculum Specialist Jason Thomsen have spent the past 18 months working with UNL counterparts Sarah Gergen and Ajai Ammachathram. Gergen is student services coordinator of the UNL Department of Food Science and Technology and Ammachathram leads the university’s HRTM program.
 
Vest and Thomsen wanted to provide more ways for LPS students to learn about jobs in HRTM fields. They felt connecting with UNL professionals like Gergen and Ammachathram was a promising avenue to take, especially with future developments on the Innovation Campus. A new building for HRTM majors is scheduled to open next to The Scarlet Hotel next summer.
 
“The expansion of their program is really exciting and we wanted to promote these opportunities to our students,” Vest said.
 
LPS first offered the two-hour experience to Culinary II classes last spring and resumed the tours this fall. Students spent one half of the field trip in the UNL Food Innovation Center, which houses many classrooms, laboratories, testing facilities and food processing spaces.
 
Gergen led students inside a sensory tasting room and past a food microbiology teaching lab on the first floor. They also traveled through hallways that connected to processing rooms for pet food, dairy products and puffed products such as cereal.
 
Students ended their building tour by sampling bite-sized portions of protein bars. One snack was made with crushed cricket powder and the other was a soy-based product.
 
Gergen said she was pleased with the curiosity students showed about the food science industry during their time together.
 
“I usually have good responses,” Gergen said. “I think it’s versatile enough that kids can be interested in one area or another.”
 
Ammachathram joined hotel representatives Patrick Murphy and Ioan Baciu on the other half of the trip. They shared insights about hospitality economics and customer service with students and led them through a kitchen, fitness center, conference room and one of the 154 guest rooms. Each guest room is named after a Nebraska town and features photos and information that showcase the community.
 
Southwest senior Hayden and junior Sutton said they were happy with what they discovered during the day.
 
“I personally liked just the whole tour of this hotel,” Hayden said. “I like knowing that a lot of stuff in here is just from Nebraska, and that’s a cool aspect of it. It was just really interesting to see.”
 
“I think it’s pretty cool to learn about the innovation and different things you can do with food and hospitality, because it’s an important aspect you don’t learn about daily,” Sutton said.
 
Hayden said the trip could serve as a key career measuring stick for many Silver Hawks in the class.
 
“I think it’s cool to see if you’re interested in hospitality for your major to help decide what you’re doing with your life,” Hayden said. “If you’re thinking about it, and then you go on this tour and you’re like, ‘Oh, I actually don’t want to do this,’ or you weren’t thinking about it, and then you’re like, ‘Oh, this might be something that I’m interested in to do in college or in your life.’”
 
Hayden said she and her classmates appreciated studying all of the Culinary II subjects on campus. She said the real-world experience was one of the main selections on her educational menu this fall.
 
“We’ve kind of just been learning about all of the stuff on paper, so bringing it to life,” Hayden said. “I just got to see it in person.”

To learn more about the LPS Career and Technical Education curriculum, visit our website at https://home.lps.org/cte.
 
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