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Date: 2/23/2023
WESTFIELD — Ekaterina Rosario and some of her culinary arts students at Westfield High School prepared a reception for members of the Westfield Woman’s Club on Feb. 17 to thank them for their generosity to the program.
The Woman’s Club, specifically members of the Creative Cooks on Court subcommittee, had adopted the program after meeting with School Committee member Kathleen Hillman.
Deb Desi, a former teacher in Westfield who chairs the subcommittee, said most of the members don’t like cooking any more, but they like talking about food. She said they were looking for ways to get engaged in the community.
Hillman told them that the cooking class, which is in the process of building its program, didn’t have enough supplies. She said on one of her visits to the classroom, she opened a drawer and found one fork, and was told the students at that station had to share it while cooking.
Desi asked Rosario what the class needed, and was given a two-page printed list. She took the list to the Westfield Woman’s Club and to some friends, and said, “I don’t know about you, but I have too much in my closet.”
“Nine full cars and a trailer ended up coming here,” Desi told the women at the reception, including a full-size refrigerator that was donated. “We supported a woman from Westfield by the Westfield Women’s Club,” she said.
Desi said the club members learned a lot of lessons during the process. One was that good teachers are replacing retired teachers, including herself and others. She said since they first met Rosario, she had finished five graduate courses, planned a wedding and gotten married.
Another lesson was for the students, who learned that people care, Desi said. Another lesson was for club members: “You learned there’s stuff we don’t need.”
Rosario thanked the women for their donations. She said there are five kitchens in Westfield High School’s culinary arts room, and each one is now fully stocked with its own supplies.
“We’re super happy,” she said, adding that donations included air fryers, deep fryers, pressure cookers, pasta makers, pie pans, sheet pans, measuring cups and spoons.
She said the fryers were especially welcomed by the students.
“Kids like to deep fry everything,” she said.
Rosario also noted that she was able to use the donated punch bowls for the reception.
“I’m very thankful,” she said.
A graduate of the Westfield Technical Academy’s culinary arts program and Johnson and Wales University, Rosario is in her third year teaching Culinary Arts I and II and Hospitality at Westfield High School. She said the school is working on building the program, with a goal of establishing Hospitality as a certified vocational program.
Rosario said there are larger items that the program still needs, which she will be able to include in her budget request this year.
Westfield High School Principal Charles Jendrysik said Rosario has done an awesome job of building the program at the high school, and thanked the women for supporting it. He said their support showed students that adults are willing to give back, and was a lesson in “what it’s about to be a good person.”
Jendrysik said other classes will also benefit from the donations. Recently, a history teacher used the culinary arts classroom to prepare Civil War recipes for a unit.
The value of all of the donations was estimated at between $5,000 and $6,000. The Westfield Woman’s Club is in the process of documenting the donation through the School Committee, which will assist in the club’s goal of becoming a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.