When Surfside Middle School Principal Matt Pitts decided to add a culinary elective this school year, he thought he had a pretty good plan. Chef Robin Downs, a former Surfside teacher and longtime culinary instructor, would return to the beach middle school to teach one culinary class. The rest of his day would be spent teaching math.
Then students signed up. More than 250 students, roughly one-third of Surfside’s student body, requested the new culinary elective. Pitts quickly realized one class wasn’t going to cut it.
Instead, Downs is now spending his school day in the kitchen, introducing middle school students to culinary skills that could eventually translate into real-world opportunities in a community where restaurants, resorts and hospitality are an important part of the local economy.
And these young chefs aren’t spending much time on the basics.
Already this year, Surfside students have prepared beignets for faculty, tackled a shrimp boil and made key lime pies. Along the way, they’re learning that success in a kitchen requires much more than knowing how to follow a recipe.
Students have to listen. They have to communicate. They have to work together. Measurements matter, timing matters and details matter. And when you’re part of a kitchen team, everyone has a job to do. Those are lessons Downs knows how to teach.
A well-known local chef and caterer, Downs previously built successful culinary programs at Arnold and Mosley high schools. His student chefs have competed against professionals in the local culinary industry…and won. In fact, Downs has developed something of a reputation at the annual Death by Chocolate competition: when his students enter, they win.
Now, he believes middle school students can rise to that same level of expectation.
One of the most significant pieces of Surfside’s new program is the opportunity for students to work toward ServSafe certification, an industry-recognized credential widely used in restaurants and hospitality.
That makes the program particularly fitting for a beach community. For students growing up in Panama City Beach, hospitality isn’t an abstract career field. It’s an industry they see all around them. Earning an industry credential while still in middle school can give students an early introduction to potential careers and skills they can continue developing in high school and beyond.
The certification also creates an opportunity for the program to sustain its own growth. Successful industry certifications generate funding that can be reinvested into the culinary program, helping purchase ingredients, equipment and other supplies students need to keep learning and cooking.
For Pitts, the response from students has already demonstrated the value of trying something new. What began as an idea for a single elective has quickly grown into one of Surfside’s most sought-after offerings.
And for Downs, it’s another opportunity to show what students can accomplish when they’re given a challenge, high expectations and the chance to get their hands dirty.
At Surfside Middle School, the recipe may start in the kitchen, but the skills students are learning could take them far beyond it.
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