Friends of Vocational Technical & Agricultural Education,
Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in partnership with Commonwealth Corporation is providing training to adults attempting to pursue new careers in western Massachusetts.
David
Slice of opportunity: Smith Voc’s new hands-on baking course helps adults build skills, pursue new careers
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Jack Tammachai works on making eclairs with the help of Chef Georgia Tancraft, a culinary teacher in the Smith Adult Community Education (ACE) culinary program. The new workforce program, which launched in June, consists of 235 hours of instruction in baking and pastry arts. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS
Nash Cimtron, left, and Maddie Connaughton work on making eclairs while Alicia Carter, middle, the kitchen assistant in the Smith Adult Community Education (ACE) culinary program, supervises. The new workforce program, which launched in June, consists of 235 hours of instruction in baking and pastry arts. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS
NORTHAMPTON — Checking her cake at eye level, Nash Cintron carefully leveled bits off with a knife. Once the top was even, she spread chocolate butter cream on the layer, simultaneously spinning the turntable and smoothing the frosting out.
It would be hard to tell that prior to taking the baking and pastry arts course at Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, Cintron had only made baked goods from box mix at home. Now she enjoys learning how to make desserts through hands-on lessons and shares some of her creations on social media.
Her biggest supporter, though, is her son, who turns 1 in October. With the skills she’s developed, she hopes to eventually make him a birthday cake.
“He has loved everything I’ve made,” Cintron said with a smile.
Smith Voc’s baking and pastry arts course is a new class offered through the school’s adult education programming, which also offers other trade classes to adults throughout the region. The 225-hour course, which launched in June, is free and open to Massachusetts residents 18 or older who meet several requirements, including an income threshold — $46,300 for Franklin and Hampshire counties and $37,100 for Hampden County — and U.S. work eligibility. Those who receive public benefits are automatically eligible for the free course.
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<![endif]>George Vanhorne, left, and Alice Kramer work on making eclairs as part of the Smith Vocational adult education culinary program. “I want to open my own bakery someday, but I need the skills,” said Kramer about why she is part of the class. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS
George Vanhorne mixes the filling for eclairs as part of the Smith Vocational adult education culinary program. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS
The course, along with a culinary program offered during the school year, is funded by a $592,000 grant from the Career and Training Initiative by the Commonwealth Corporation (CTI). The grant helps Smith Voc provide uniforms, tools, ingredients and free lessons to six cohorts: two in baking and four in culinary arts. Many of the students in the cohorts are underemployed or unemployed and seeking a new career.
Lorena Turner, Smith Voc’s Adult Education Director, said the school decided to use grant funds for its culinary program because there is a shortage of workers in food service in Massachusetts, and part of the CTI initiative is to train people to work in trades where there is a need for workers.
“We have just a welcoming attitude for those that seek opportunities like this,” said Turner. “The whole program is very comprehensive in meeting them all the way to the end, which is employment.”
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Students receive help with interview skills and resumes during the course of the program with the aim of finding employment after graduation. Turner says that Smith Voc also has food service employer partners in Northampton and the area, including Smith College, River Valley Coop, Bread Euphoria, Hungry Ghost Bread, Northampton Brewery, Deerfield Academy, Jake’s Restaurant, Amherst Survival Center and Ana Bandeira Chocolates. These employer partners consider hiring students to fill openings.
Learning the trade
Before that can happen, though, students have to learn the trade. Pastry chef Georgia Tancrati, who has a bachelor’s degree in baking and pastry arts and food service management from Johnson and Wales University, teaches the baking and pastry arts class.
Tancrati began teaching as a long-term substitute in high school culinary classes at Smith Voc two years ago before transitioning to help teach the culinary course for adult education. She is currently teaching a cohort of nine students in the baking and pastry arts class at Smith Voc, for which she designed the curriculum.
She says that for many students, this course is a second chance, whether they’re getting their footing after being previously incarcerated or if they’ve experienced an unexpected job loss.
“Sometimes life throws you curveballs, and you’ve done all the right things,” Tancrati said, citing the 100 people who were laid off from Yankee Candle in South Deerfield in 2024, saying that some people had expected to retire at the company after decades of work, only to face unemployment.
“It’s super fulfilling to help them gain a skill to improve their lives,” Tancrati said.
Throughout the course, students learn a plethora of skills necessary for working in the pastry business, including knife skills, piping and making various goods like cakes, pies, biscotti, bread and more.
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<![endif]>On a typical day in the commercial-size kitchen, the smell of sugar and butter wafts through the door and the hum of people talking and whisking ingredients fills the air. After they complete their creations for the day, students get to take baked goods home to their friends and families.
‘Didn’t get to taste it’
George Vanhorne’s desserts don’t last long though — in fact, they’re usually devoured by his family before he even gets to try them. Sharing photos of food he’s made over the last two months, he remarks “didn’t get to taste it” repeatedly with a chuckle.
Vanhorne started cooking with his mother when he was 5 years old and got his first job at a restaurant in Jamaica, where he worked for 15 years. He took Smith Voc’s baking and pastry arts course after finding out that he wasn’t hired again for roofing for the season. At first, he considered taking the plumbing class at Smith Voc but ended up taking the pastry course that was open. He says that he is really grateful that he did.
When Vanhorne makes food, he enjoys watching people’s faces light up when they try his creations and hearing them say “ooh!”
“I just love serving food and seeing people happy,” he said. “I like to make food with love.”
One day, he hopes to start his own restaurant serving Caribbean and American food, and he is glad to be learning baking skills so he can have desserts on the menu.
Tancrati summed up the program’s mission of helping people enter new careers: “I think that everyone deserves to have a career they’re passionate about,” she said.