February 27, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Third in series of five stories. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
What’s cooking at DeKalb County High School?
Ask Linda Parris!
IMG_4428 from dwayne page on Vimeo.
As the Family and Consumer Science/Culinary Arts teacher, Parris oversees a program at DCHS in which students engage in lab-based, hands-on training in the art of cooking and hospitality management. They create new recipes, cater events in the local area, and bridge the gap between high school and postsecondary education by completing industry certifications.
Parris, this year’s DCHS Teacher of the Year, started her journey there as an educator 22 years ago. “This is my 22nd year at DCHS. The first 15 years I was a Home Economics/Family and Consumer Science Teacher. When former Family and Consumer Science teacher Harriett Cantrell retired she said I needed to get busy and obtain my culinary endorsement for those classes at the high school. I added that endorsement within a year and we moved to her room and we have transformed her room from a home kitchen to a commercial kitchen. That was seven years ago,” said Parris.
Under Parris’ leadership, the culinary arts and hospitality program at DCHS earned the school a “2016 Elite 50 Award” from Sullivan University, one of only three Tennessee schools to receive the honor that year. The Elite 50 list each year includes high schools and tech centers that excel in the areas of culinary arts, baking and pastry arts, and/or hospitality management.
So what’s a typical day like in Linda Parris’ classroom?
“It depends on what day it is,” said Parris. “Today (Monday) we did uniform alterations for the basketball game. We may clean a tower garden or add water to a tower garden. We are excited because we have three or four peppers on our tower garden ready to be harvested. I may be testing students on the chrome books. We may be in the lab preparing meals for different events at the school or in the community. We take their skills learning in other classes and we’re connecting them to the real world showing them where they are going to be using those skills. Each day is a new day. We never know what it will bring,” said Parris.
Although a resident of Warren County, Parris is quick to add that her home is only a stone’s throw from DeKalb County.
She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Tennessee Tech University and she has a Master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. Parris also added her culinary arts endorsement from MTSU.
In addition to her teaching duties at DCHS, she serves as advisor for the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) Club.
Parris said she counts it an honor to be the DCHS Teacher of the Year. “I was shocked and very fortunate that my peers voted this honor upon me. I have many peers who are just as deserving of this award as I am”.
Asked how she would feel if she were named DeKalb County Teacher of the Year, Parris said “It would be exciting and amazing. I would feel honored to represent my career in technical education,” she added.
In addition to Parris, this year’s honorees are Justin Nokes, seventh grade World History teacher at DeKalb Middle School; first grade teacher Vicky Hawker at Smithville Elementary School; fifth grade teacher Cheryl Vandagriff at Northside Elementary School; and Jessica Antoniak, a sixth grade math and science teacher at DeKalb West School.
WJLE will be featuring each of the five Teachers of the Year at the school level through next Tuesday. Features on Justin Nokes and Vicky Hawker already appear further down this page under local news.