The Class
The Hospitality and Tourism career cluster encompasses jobs not only in food and beverage, but also in event planning, management, hotels and lodging, recreation, travel and more! While this class does focus primarily on Culinary Arts and Restaurant Operations, it is designed to give you a "taste" of the other career paths in this industry with the hope that each student is able to find an area of interest that works for their goals.
Culinary, Hospitality, and Customer Service skills are things that can take you anywhere in life with elements that apply to a variety of job settings. No matter what you decide to do to become successful, we hope you take what you have learned in our class and are able to apply it wherever your life's journey will take you. Have fun, and welcome! |
Meet Your Instructors
Chef Cynthia Monroe
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Cynthia graduated from the Inland Northwest Culinary Academy in 2014 with honors. At the start of her culinary career she worked in many of Gonzaga’s venues, including the famous “Zaggin’ Wagon” food truck. Cynthia is very active in the local chapter of the American Culinary Federation (ACF) as a board member and ACF volunteer, most recently catering Habitat for Humanity’s Blitz Build. She also travels several times a year with the National ACF office as a chef coordinator and liaison for keynote chefs at Regional and National Conferences.
Cynthia enjoys volunteering for many local charity events and has even competed and placed in a few recipe contests. She is the judge coordinator for the Spokane Interstate Fair Food competition and has the delighted joy of tasting all of the special fair food treats! Chef Cynthia’s passion is cooking and serving delicious food. She believes every moment of every day is an opportunity to learn and grow and hopes as a teacher she can pass on this extraordinary vision of love, food, sustainability, and community to eager learners with open minds, creating the next generation of local foodies and restaurateurs. |
Chef Bob Rogers
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Born and raised in Spokane and a graduate from Shadle Park High School, this marks his 43rd year working in the industry. Chef Bob began working in 1975 at the Davenport Hotel doing table-side cooking. It was there that he was exposed to great food and was “hooked”. He has worked in virtually every position in the industry, from dishwasher to Executive Chef and from busboy to Director of Food & Beverage. He's been a Maître d’ and a Wine Steward as well as a Corporate Director for a multi-unit company. He loves going to work every day and looks at his work as going to the playground.
Over the years he has been involved in many culinary charity events, having taken first place honors at Epicurean Delight in every category. He has been the host Chef for the Rypien Foundation and supported many other great causes as well. He's also been a mentor and a judge with the ProStart program for Shadle Park High School, and even got to “Teach the Teachers”! He's looking forward to continuing his work with students and do something meaningful in the culinary community that he loves so much. Happily married to his beautiful wife Amy, he enjoys spending time with family, playing golf, and working on upgrading his home. ( oh…and he kinda likes to cook!) |