Culinary Enrollment at 169; College considering adding another section; Hospitality enrolls 24; 14 obtain culinary certificates
Enrollment at the Sedona Center for its new Culinary programs is doing well. According to Dean James Perey, who updated the District Governing Board on February 13 about the Verde Campus and Sedona Center, enrollment in culinary courses for the spring semester is at 169 students. He is considering adding another section in fall 2018 to accommodate the demand for the culinary offerings.
He noted that 14 high school culinary students recently received their culinary certificates. Those that were already holding jobs received an immediate increase of from $1 to $2 and hour.
The hospitality program was successfully launched this spring with an initial enrollment of 24 students. He is working with the Yavapai-Apache Nation that has just completed the large hotel addition in Camp Verde to assess how the College and the Nation can use the facility for training.
Dean Perey’s report to the District Governing Board on February 13 on the culinary and hospital program is on the video clip below.
The culinary program opened at the Sedona Center this fall has got off to a strong start. However, because of low enrollment, the hospitality programs offered on the Verde Campus failed to open in the fall of 2017. During questioning by the Sedona Council, Verde Valley Campus Executive Dean James Perey said that he is meeting with the Yavapai-Apache Nation in December to explore the possibility of using the Nation’s new hotel as a facility to provide real life training in hospitality.
In an interview given to Tom Tracey of the Verde Independent on January 21, 2016, Verde Campus Executive Dean James Perey said that “”When we get community input to Sedona programming, the major areas are Culinary and Hospitality; Arts and Music; Community Enrichment and Core Curriculum/General Education.”
There were a total of 97 persons who attended the event. Included in the audience were members of the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee, two members of the Yavapai College District Governing Board, and the Mayor and six of the seven Sedona City Councilors.
There was a great deal of focus on the culinary courses during the Board presentation by the Community College. It was learned that somewhere between 200 and 250 students will have the opportunity to take the culinary courses on the West side of the Mountain. The Mountain Institute JTED on the West side of the County has been running courses at a Fudrucker’s for over a year. JTED operates two Culinary Arts programs: the one housed at the former Fudrucker’s restaurant is considered a “central campus,” and another exists on the Chino Valley High School campus. In October, 2013 the Mountain Institute reported that Chino Valley’s program has 113 students currently enrolled, compared to 88 this past year; the central campus increased from 34 to 45. At the Board meeting in January, 2015 Dr. Wills estimated 250 high school students on the West side of the County as potential applicants while Dean Perey put the figure at 200.