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Local cooking students work at Trump National Golf Club

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Cooking students at Greene County Career and Technology Center and their adviser, Dan Wagner, stand on the course at the Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., during the Senior Professional Golfers’ Association Championship last month.

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From left, professional golfer Tom Watson poses for a picture with Hayley Hice and Destiny Phillips, students at Greene County Career and Technology Center, during the Senior Professional Golfers’ Association Championship.

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A member of the kitchen staff at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., teaches Molly Fitch, a student at Greene County Career and Technology Center, how to make pupusas, a popular dish in El Salvador.

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Professional chefs plan a dinner at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., during the Senior Professional Golfers’ Association Championship last month.

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Jim Zambito, left, executive chef for Trump National Golf Club, sits with Nik Streit, a student at Greene County Career and Technology Center. Streit was part of a group of students that got to work at the golf club during the Senior PGA Championship last month.

A group of cooking students at Greene County Career and Technology Center knew they were getting the educational experience of a lifetime when they worked in the kitchens of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., during the week of the presidential inauguration in January.

What they didn’t know then was that they’d get another similar opportunity a few months later, working at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., during the Senior Professional Golfers’ Association Championship.

“It’s an absolutely mind-blowing experience to be able to do both of those in one year,” said Kyle Sharp, who will be a senior at Jefferson-Morgan. “We made them happy with the first time we worked for them and they requested us back. It shows a reputation for us.”

Sharp was one of seven students that cooked during the event. Dan Wagner, culinary arts adviser for the career center, took the students from May 21-26.

“They got to go out on the golf course and serve food to people during a practice round,” Wagner said. “They served food to Eric Trump and many senior golf pros.”

Wagner said there were grilling and carving tent stations set up on the course, where students would cook up small dishes to serve the golfers and their families during a practice round.

He said the opportunity came up while they were at the inauguration. One of the chefs they worked with that week was Jim Zambito, executive chef of Trump National Golf Club.

“I thought it was a great idea,” Zambito said. “I knew we were going to need the extra help. It was a win-win for both of us.”

Zambito said the students were “a big help” and that they all listened and interacted well with the other chefs and staff.

“It’s exposure to what’s out there in the chef world,” Zambito said. “It was a great opportunity to be able to bring in a group of high school students, who probably don’t get to travel often, and show them how big things can get.”

Wagner said the experience was much different than the work students did during the inauguration, but most of it followed techniques and skills the students learn in class. He said students were given their own “prep sheet,” which directed them as to what fruits and vegetables needed to be chopped and stocked up on.

Sharp, who was able to go on both trips, said the golf trip was more “independent.”

“The chef expected more out of us,” he said. “They took their time with us but kept us busy and gave us a real view of what a real kitchen is like for a major event like that.”

Wagner said the trip was also a “cultural experience” for the students, because many of the kitchen staff and chefs did not speak English. Wagner said some of the kitchen staff taught the students how to make pupusas, which is like a stuffed tortilla that is a popular dish in El Salvador.

“It was cool because the students had to learn how to communicate,” he said.

The trip would not have been possible, Wagner said, without support from CTC director Mark Krupa and teachers and principals from the students’ home schools. Wagner said the trip was the same week as the students’ final exams and Keystone exams – a week that’s usually “off limits” for field trips.

Other students on the trip were Destiny Phillips of Jefferson-Morgan, Hayley Hice, Kendra Gephart and Nik Streit, all from Carmichaels; Bryan Hoge of Southeastern Greene and Molly Fitch of Waynesburg Central.

Wagner said several chefs joined forces to cook a special dinner for all golfers one evening. One of those chefs was Uniontown native Richard Rosendale, one of only 67 certified master chefs in the world. It was a night Streit, a junior at Carmichaels, will never forget.

“My highlight of the week was Tuesday night and being able to work with Chef Zambito and Master Chef Rosendale,” he said. “They just have so much knowledge.”

Streit wants to be an executive chef someday and “maybe work for Chef Zambito.”

“I’m really starting to like the D.C. area,” he said.

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