To reward students for their academic achievements, the “Straight ‘A’ Luncheon” has returned for the new school year.

“We want to celebrate the students that accomplished straight A’s last semester, this is something that we do every semester for the students,” Kailee Dudoit, recruitment counselor, said. “We just want to show the kids that we are proud of them for working hard in their academics and achieving straight A’s.”

Whilst ensuring the safety of everyone on campus, modifications were made to the luncheon due to COVID-19.

“Usually what we like to do on a regular year, is we have the kids stay in the ballroom, so it would be easier for you to socialize, eat your lunch here, and have this special event just for you, but with the COVID restrictions and protocols, we couldn’t have anybody sitting in here,” Dudoit said. “So that’s one of the things I wish we were able to do because then you wouldn’t have to take your lunch down to the cafeteria, and you would be able to be here altogether, like a celebration, or event.”

The planning for the luncheon started at the beginning of the school year with the help of Culinary teacher Michael Hadobas.  

“We went through our traditional planning process where I built a menu with administration,” Hadobas said. “Once they approved it, I did all the purchasing and I wrote the recipes. From there my students take over and they do everything, so my advanced studies students helped do the mise en place [putting in place] for the event, and they helped prep.”

Hadobas had to ensure that everything within the luncheon would be successful by instructing students, prepping the food, etc. 

“Being such a big event, the morning of, was a little stressful, and I didn’t sleep very well the night before,” Hadobas said. “I was trying to make sure that everything was ready, but honestly even the prep work for this event, the back end stuff that the students didn’t see, like doing the purchasing, and making sure I had the right amount of food to feed everyone. That’s a little bit stressful because if I don’t get it right, when the students go to prep, or when we’re serving, if we run out of food, that’s a bigger problem.”

Several students, like junior Yestin Cruzada, worked tirelessly in the kitchen to prepare for the event.

“It honestly was exhausting,” Cruzada said. “Most of the time was spent running around the kitchen and focusing to try and get the pieces as even as possible. There’s a lot of us though, so we were able to make the process bearable.”

Due to the planning Hadobas put into the event, he is happy with the results. 

“This was our first big event of the year, and it was the first time that we were really able to get in the kitchen and really cook again, so being able to kick off the year with such a big event was really fun and wonderful,” Hadobas said. “Events, hospitality, serving guests, that’s what makes me really happy. So being able to finally, after 18 months of being out of the kitchen, getting to do that with my students again, was really quite an honor.”