World-Class Cooking Comes to Tech
Introducing Ms. Liz Bouchard, our new school cafeteria manager
Standing on your feet all day, being in the hot kitchen with no air conditioning and dealing with the hustle and bustle that goes on in a kitchen is not the job for just anybody.
Ms. Liz Bouchard, our school cafeteria manager, has had a passion for cooking for as long as she can remember. She began cooking at a young age and told us “my family owned a restaurant in Orange called ‘The 202 Grill’ and I started scooping ice cream as soon as I could.” Ms. Bouchard is a native of Franklin County – she grew up in Athol and graduated from Athol High School. “My mom was a hard worker,” she said, noting that her biggest inspiration in her life is her mom.
FCTS is fortunate to have Ms. Bouchard join our school's food service program as the new supervisor; Ms. Bouchard Graduated from Johnson & Wales University where she had lived on campus. Ms. Bouchard has her associate’s degree in Culinary Arts and her BA in food service. She explained, “…college was a good foundation, but my prior experience had taught me more.” Ms. Bouchard worked at Gillette Stadium during college where she served Robert Kraft and his son their breakfast and lunch nearly every day.
“I love food service, I love the flexibility of this job,” said Ms. Bouchard, expressing strongly how much she loves her job here at FCTS She also explained how she values being able to provide kids with food that they may not have at home. Ms. Bouchard hopes to make changes in the future and is looking into having a second breakfast serving that would start at 9:30 for those who don’t make it to breakfast or simply just can’t eat in the morning. Bouchard also wants to involve the Landscaping Program with school lunches which would provide a farm to table like approach.
Many times, the work of the lunch ladies is under-estimated by the students and the staff of the school. While they sometimes make it look easy, there are many things that we don’t take into consideration, such as Massachusetts health regulations and restrictions, the preparation of each meal and the time spent cooking it.
We, as students and staff, sometimes don’t understand the time and effort that these ladies put into preparing our food for us, but they are among the hardest working members of our FCTS community by everybody. So next time you pass through the cafeteria line, stop and say, “Thanks.” Never forget --a smile can go a long way!