This story is part of the Comox Valley Record’s summer edition of Trio Magazine, published quarterly and available throughout the Comox Valley. The summer edition is available at the Record office (407D Fifth St.) and at businesses throughout the Comox Valley.
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Jasper Myers
Special to the Record
Tammy Williamson is a home economics teacher in the Comox Valley School District and a member of the North Vancouver Island Culinary Association.
As a member of the association, Williamson just recently won the Member of the Year award for the West Coast and is now nominated nationally.
“[The award] recognizes a non-chef, a member of the chefs association, and people like educators who contribute to the culinary world behind the scenes,” said Williamson. “I honestly have no idea this even existed. The president of our association - Leslie Stav - she put my name forward.”
This isn’t the first time Williamson has won Member of the Year, having previously won it for the North Island branch.
“I got a set of amazing, beautiful knives with my name engraved on every single one of them,” she said. “So that was pretty cool. I do quite a bit of work… and that’s why Leslie put my name forward.”
Having worked at multiple schools around the Valley, Williamson has had a hand in developing the district-wide culinary program. She graduated with a home economics degree from the University of Saskatchewan.
“When I started university, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do, and I found out we had a home economics program, and I’m like, ‘oh, that’s cool.’ Teaching wasn’t even on my radar. It wasn’t something I was thinking about, and then it kind of fell into my lap.”
Aside from teaching culinary arts at Isfeld, Williamson has been involved in the professional culinary program run through the school district. The district offers a Level One E Apprentice program in partnership with Camosun College in Victoria.
“What happens is students apply for the program, and once a week we cook all day, like 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. and I do the basics of it,” Williamson said. “We learn the mother sauces, how to properly cut meat and cook meat for each cut. We learn how to cook different types of vegetables, and then they work at a restaurant (to build) their learning.”
The program also contains an online portion for students to complete a final exam taken at Camosun. After completing the program, students can enter into a Level Two program at the college or elsewhere.
Williamson began the program seven or eight years ago while she worked at Highland Secondary.
“We started out just getting ourselves up and running, and then it evolved into a bigger program … culinary is a tough trade… It’s hard with kids. They have to be passionate about food. And we’ve been really lucky because we’ve had lots of students come through that are very passionate.”
The program is open to any student in the school district who is in Grade 12, and an early grad - having all their requirements done by the end of January of their Grade 12 year. They apply and go through an interview process to be admitted into the program.
“They need to be in a kitchen for 20 hours a week,” said Williamson. “They need to be doing their online work, and they need to be with me one full day.”
It is also helpful if the student applying already has a placement in a kitchen. Williamson added trades programs students need to accumulate hours towards their certification.
This year she said they only had two students join, but hopes to see more students again in the following years. The program can run with up to seven students, due to the space at the district, but she said they need more students to sign up.
Apart from the culinary program, Williamson is also involved in the culinary club at Isfeld. The club is open to any student at the school and is something Williamson really enjoys.
“A couple of times a month we get together and we figure out recipes that we really want to make, and we make them,” Williamson said. “And from those students, they’re the ones that volunteer a lot in the community. We do all sorts of events, like the BC Seafood Festival… we’re always at the farmers market.”
Williamson has taught home economics for about 17 years now between Campbell River and the Valley, with the last six years spent at Mark R. Isfeld Secondary School. In September Williamson starts a position with the school district.
“My new job is going to be culinary support for the district,” she said. “I’m working at the careers department for the district, so I’ll be placing students in work placements of all trades. Hopefully part of my new job, the focus will be to support home economics and culinary programs in the Valley.”
She hopes to build a community for home economics, similar to the community within other fields of study, like science and arts.
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