By Lucy Lawrence
Photo courtesy of Culinary Arts – Skagit Valley College
Skagit Valley College offers a vast number of programs between its two campuses and its many mediums of teaching through offsite teaching and cooperation with local business owners. While Skagit does offer many of the programs that other community colleges in the area do, it has a few that stand out and are unique. Two of Skagit’s unique programs are culinary arts and craft brewing.
While Skagit’s craft brewing program does not offer any degrees, it does offer a Craft Brewing Certificate and can be achieved in one academic year or 3 full quarters and totals 41 credits. The program is designed for students to be able to directly enter the workforce after completing the program. It uses a range of industry professionals, internships and hands-on experience at local breweries to instruct students. Skagit’s craft brewing program is perfect for those already in the workforce that want to pursue a hobby, become more educated or change career paths because it is mostly taught in the evenings and online. This makes it great for students who also work fulltime or have families.
Students achieving this certificate can usually find jobs in management and sales positions, lab and service technicians, bartenders and food service in bars or pubs. If they are looking to have more hands-on work, they can also find jobs as brewers, maltsters, cellermen, bottling line,
quality assurance and much more. People interested in this certification or career should also note that many brewery tasks can involve moving items up to 50 pounds or more. Also, due to the nature of brewing, many workers have to be above the age of 21. Skagit’s craft brewing program is just one of its many highlights of its vast offerings. It is one of the only higher education institutions in Washington State that offers courses in craft brewing.
Overall, Skagit is greatly known for its great programs in the food service industry. Another program that stands out at Skagit is its culinary arts program. Skagit’s culinary arts programs is one of the few programs accepted by American Culinary Federation Education Foundation (ACFEF) which is the largest professional chefs association in North America. The program emphasizes hands on and lab work. Students are taught to recognize the need for modernity, understand global food trends, and be sensitive to cultural differences. This program has four different degree/certificate offerings. They are associates in applied science in culinary arts baking and pastry and culinary emphasis, a professional cooking certificate, and a basic bakery competency micro-certificate.
Students achieving their Associates in Applied Science – Culinary Arts Baking & Pastry Emphasis can look for jobs as baker, head chef or cook. Because Skagit is located in a diverse farming and growing region, the culinary arts program works with locally grown food and ingredients. Students working towards this degree at Skagit are in the hands of very capable professors and industry professionals where they are able to get hands on experience to prepare for their future career.
While the above degree focuses on baking, students who want a wider lens can earn their Associates in Applied Science – Culinary Emphasis. This degree is very similar but has an emphasis on a wider topic and students take less classes specifically on baking and pastries.
Students with a general culinary emphasis take a 10-credit course on American Regional Cuisines, while students with an emphasis on baking and pastries take a 10-credit lab course on sous chef bakery.
Skagit’s culinary arts program also has a Professional Cooking Certificate which consists of 60 total credits. This certificate covers many of the first-year classes that the associates degrees do and gives students a basic foundation of understanding culinary arts. Similarly, Skagit also offers a Basic Bakery Competency Micro-Certificate that consists of 3 classes totaling 16 credits. Both of these certificates are designed for students wanting to further their knowledge, advance their career or simply learn more about a hobby.
Overall, Skagit has a vast array of degree, certificates and classes, but the food industry programs stick out as unique and well rounded. Both the craft brewing, and culinary arts programs emphasize hands on learning and real-life experience to best prepare students for their career. Skagit emphasizes student success not only while still in school but sets them up to have success in every avenue of life after education.
