PERRYSBURG – Community service is good for heart and for the resume.
At this week’s meeting of the Penta Board of Education, Chef Jim Rhegness gave a presentation on one of
the culinary program’s many outreach efforts, the Kids in the Kitchen event sponsored by the Toledo
Junior League.
Penta students gave demonstrations to 500 school children about nutrition, cooking and food safety. The
work, Rhegness said, gives students a chance to present information they learn at the school.
One of the culinary students, Jenna Wagener, Maumee, said she has accumulated two pages of activities
she’s participated in, and she hopes that will give her a leg up when she starts looking for college
scholarships.
The career center is working on getting more students involved in the co-curricular activities associated
with their fields of study, said high school Director Jeffrey Kurtz.
That effort was the focus of an "all-school" activity.
Superintendent Ron Matter said that they try to impress on students that community service is "not
something you have to do, it’s when you want to do it."
Co-curricular organizations also give students a chance to compete with students from other schools.
Ryan Lee, an instructor in Penta’s new Fire/EMT program, reported on a recent competition 15 of his
students participated in at the Cuyahoga Valley Career Center.
Student Josh Penn, a Springfield student who is in the program’s first senior class, described the
obstacle course the students had to maneuver through. It started with donning gear, and involved
climbing stairs, using a sledge, handling a hose and moving a body.
Most students completed the course in something over five minutes.
Also at the meeting, the board approved a change order for $3,500 to install ice guard on the eaves and
felt over the roof of the cold storage building.