The new culinary teacher, Kendra Mastrone, has brought her cooking and baking expertise to Robinson. She came to Robinson through her connection with Mitchell Smithey and the Voodoo Chef Foundation, which supports young aspiring chefs with culinary education.
“Mitchell approached me when I started getting into teaching and wanted to know if I would be interested in taking Culinary 1 over here and helping with the other culinary stuff. I said yes, I knew it was a good school, and I wanted to try,” she said.
“[Mastrone is a good fit for Robinson because] she’s very relatable [to her students] and she’s going to form very good relationships with students. She’s teaching a culinary class, and she was once in a culinary class. She knows exactly where those students are sitting because she was sitting there one time,” Principal David Brown said.
Mastrone has a very extensive background in culinary, starting back in the early 2000s with her high school culinary class. She started at the Good Food Events and Catering company, which she worked at for nine years.
“I started in high school, and I realized this could be a whole industry or a career, even if I just did regular culinary, baking, hospitality or management. I found a whole new world, and I jumped in,” Mastrone said.
Along with teaching, she also hopes to keep up with the snack shack and add to it. However, there have been some difficulties with it being cleared with the school.
“There are just certain things we have to make sure are in place,” Mastrone said. “I’m sure we’ll add some cool little twists here and there. Maybe packaged meals. It’s not something we are 100% set on. We are getting ideas and coming up with plans.”
Outside of the classroom, Mastrone is very invested in her 8-year-old son’s interests, such as football and Minecraft. In addition, she is an avid jewelry maker.
“‘I make sterling silver and real gold jewelry with precious stones, like amethysts, anything in that realm I make jewelry with,” she said.
Mastrone is very excited to come to RHS and help shape the future of the culinary industry.
“[My teaching philosophy is] to nurture their minds and open their horizons of what culinary could do for them,” Mastrone said.
