May 13, 2015 at 4:33 p.m.
Someone you should know: Kevin Brown
Kevin Brown, culinary arts instructor
Someone you should know: Kevin Brown
RN: Please explain your job.
Brown: I'm a culinary arts instructor at Nicolet college and being a culinary arts instructor I teach many different classes, some in the kitchen lab and some in the lecture room of a class room. Most of my teaching happens with first-year culinary students. Just today I started with a bunch of continuing first-year students in a class called garde manger and that class we had six new culinary students join us in the middle of a term. So we have multiple entry points for students who are looking to join the culinary arts profession here and the education that we offer here at Nicolet so this class is a great entry point for new students and students that just want to check out and see if this career path is right for them.
RN: How long have you held this job?
Brown: I've been teaching at Nicolet for the last six years.
RN: What is your favorite part of the job?
Brown: My favorite part of the job is that it is different every single day. I know sometimes that is overused, but truly each of my classes that I've had in the last six years has had a different group of students in it and the dynamics in each classroom are completely different. We have students who are fresh out of high school. In fact I have some students who are youth option students who are participating in high school and taking this as well. I have students that are in their 50s and 60s that have a different perspective of everything and everything in between. People that have been working in the industry for many years come back to kind of legitimize their career with a degree from Nicolet College or students who are starting out on their career path and think that culinary arts might be a profession that would be very rewarding to them.
RN: What is the biggest misconception about the job?
Brown: The biggest misconception about culinary arts is that it is easy work. We don't just bake cookies all day, we don't just make sandwiches all day. The work is very rewarding but it can be very challenging. You are working in a hot environment, most of the time the kitchen is hot temperature-wise and you're on your feet for extended lengths of time, and the stress of trying to get food out in a very professional manner under tight deadlines and priming and the amount of workload sometimes can be very challenging for some individuals. We teach students skills to handle the stresses and accomplish completion of the tasks when it's a real busy time like that. The proof of that is, this semester for instance, we run a student-run restaurant on campus four days a week and they are serving real paying customers real food that they are cooking and the customers who come in there on schedule are paying their hard-earned money for the food that we are providing. So it provides the student a great opportunity to learn some of those skills in a safe environment where they're not going to be terminated for messing something up or won't be disciplined for burning something or critiqued harshly for making a mistake. It's a safe learning environment where they can make mistakes and learn from those mistakes if they make them.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Brown: I have three boys who keep me challenged. They're into sporting activities so I love being involved in my kids' lives. My wife and I love to travel and traveling with my family around the United States is probably one of my biggest passions because traveling and seeing different things whether it is different foods from around the United States or different foods from around the world or just meeting people from different places other than the Northwoods of Wisconsin, changes your life forever. It makes you a different person because you have a different perspective and I love being able to travel and give those experiences to my family and change their outlook and perspective on things here in the Northwoods.
Those interested in dinning at Top of the Hill restaurant should visit www.nicoletcollege.edu/about/student-service/culinary-service.
Kayla Breese may be reached at kayla@ rivernewsonline.com.
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