Culinary & Hospitality
Love cooking, baking, and hosting events? Our Culinary Arts program gives students the experience of cooking in a professional kitchen environment and preparing banquets for various organizations throughout the semester. This course involves both theory and actual hands on lab and work experience. Successful completion of this program includes the ServSafe certification required of all food service workers today. This grants our students a leg-up on the competition when applying for jobs in the industry. Each year, the Culinary program also hosts a job fair assisting students with the transfer directly into the workforce, or a part-time job to help with higher education costs.
Designed around the nationally acclaimed ProStart program, our courses include an industry-driven curriculum to teach, test and award industry recognized certification to students meeting high standards in food service and restaurant education. ProStart is a two-year curriculum developed by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. This state-driven and industry-backed curriculum is based on the knowledge high school students need to be successful in the restaurant industry. Coupled with relevant work-based experiences, this curriculum enriches, enhances, and reinforces what students learn in the classroom and provides students with opportunities to develop and practice skills critical to their future success. By integrating classroom learning with job experiences, ProStart provides students with opportunities to learn and practice important skills related to leadership and responsibility.
These skill sets serve as a foundation to professional, trained, and educated employees. It is a school-to- career path for high school students interested in the restaurant and food service industry.
Program Overview
Designed around the nationally acclaimed ProStart program, our courses include an industry-driven curriculum to teach, test and award industry recognized certification to students meeting high standards in foodservice and restaurant education. ProStart is a two-year curriculum developed by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. This state-driven and industry-backed curriculum is based on the knowledge high school students need to be successful in the restaurant industry.
Coupled with relevant work-based experiences, this curriculum enriches, enhances, and reinforces what students learn in the classroom and provides students with opportunities to develop and practice skills critical to their future success. By integrating classroom learning with job experiences, ProStart provides students with opportunities to learn and practice important skills related to leadership and responsibility. These skill sets serve as a foundation to professional, trained, and educated employees. It is a school-to- career path for high school students interested in the restaurant and foodservice industry.
Informational Video
Chef Delevante was born in Philadelphia, and raised in Syracuse, New York and Boston, Massachusetts. She fell in love with cooking as a young girl. It was her grandmother’s nurturing and loving influence that sparked the flame of her passion. She made all the meals for her family as well as others,
and her love for feeding people was simply inspiring for her soul. Chef wanted to be just like her.
In 2000, Mrs. Delevante made a life-changing decision to career change from an elementary school teacher
for five years to preparing to go back to college and train to become a chef. In 2004, she was accepted to Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. In 2008, she graduated with honors with a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts. She is grateful for her career as a culinary student because along with the many skills she learned at JWU, she was afforded the opportunity to
complete her second internship in Singapore and Thailand. For one year, she studied many Asian
cultures and learned to cook Chinese cuisine from all over the world. Her skills include but are
not limited to Cantonese, Mandarin, Haiyang, Szechuan, Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian,
Hunan, Shandong, Zhejiang, Indian, and Thai cuisine.
In 2010, with high honors, she received a master’s degree in organizational management from
Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa. She has worked in food service for thirty years cooking in
upscale restaurants, hotels, corporate dining, and hospital organizations. In her spare time, she is honored to volunteer and cook at several soup kitchens around Charlotte, NC. She has been the
proud owner of Deneen’s Delectables Personal Chef and Catering business for twenty-five
years. For the last seven years, she has been serving clients in Charlotte and the Lake Norman
area.
In 2022, she was honored to accept a teaching position with Iredell public schools as Food and Nutrition I and II instructor. In 2024, she transitioned to overseeing the culinary program at
CATS.