Get Baking: A Feature on the SJHS Baking Club

A window opens with curtains fluttering, warm air drifting through the house, and a sweet smell that halts you. The sights and smells of warm pastries most people have had experience with; whether you made it yourself or not. Though you don’t need to be a master chef to experience a pie or cake along your lips or tastebuds, it’s a hobby with no harm in learning. Mrs. Berry, an SJHS cooking class teacher, oversees a student-run club where students can pay a small price to work in a kitchen with friends and classmates to learn baking skills they can use in their adult lives later on.

Compared to other classes and activities, Baking Club may not seem as important as the others. Though I could contradict this with the dull and banal answer of “You can learn how to make cookies,” this club has more to offer. Students who may not be able to spend much time in the kitchen at home are allowed to bake and get more familiar with their tools. Restaurant Hospitality surveyed over half of the students at multiple Colleges and Universities and learned that nearly 90% of the surveyed students eat out at least once a week. Not only is this restaurant boom bad for our wallets, but all for the environment since 7 out of every 10 pieces of trash are beverage or food-related (Restaurant Hospitality). Though Baking Club can seem like less of a priority due to their focus being desserts, participating can make you more confident around kitchen appliances and utensils. Now, those cookies I was talking about seem much better, don’t they?  

School can feel hard to manage at times between classes and accompanying our friends and peers. However, in Baking Club, you don’t need to make the decision of being social and learning new skills. Alayna Notle; 12, co-adviser of Baking Club, made this comment about the group. “The group is great for meeting other people while still using tools that some kids may not be able to do at home.” Since the club takes on this casual, yet, informative position it’s an enjoyable way to spend free time with your companions. 

To summarize, Baking Club offers many opportunities to gain skills and confidence in the kitchen while maintaining a casual setting easy for hanging out with friends. Though this group does require a small amount of pay, they try to keep it reasonable for possible new members. Hopefully, though-out the upcoming years, Baking Club will grow to be the group it deserves to be.