For Chef Janel Ortega, hospitality doesn’t end in the kitchen. It’s a way of life. 

And that’s how she instructs her 55 dual credit and practicum culinary arts students at Sam Houston High School, giving them a global picture of the importance and history of food, all the while equipping them in record numbers for the ServSafe Manager certification. 

A chef for 12 years before beginning her teaching career eight years ago, she loves the opportunity to share knowledge of food with her students. 

“I love that I’m still able to be with food and share my love of cooking with students,” Ortega said. “I love food and teaching people about food.”

But it’s more than just food. Admittedly teaching them more than they think they’re going to learn, Ortega works in lessons in anthropology, science, nutrition, law and horticulture. The class has a garden where they cultivate herbs and seasonal vegetables.

“Students don’t understand our food system until they see something sprout from the ground,” Ortega said. 

With this wealth of knowledge, she’s empowering them for college and careers. Students in her dual credit classes earn up to 12 credit hours at St. Philip’s College or up to a full first semester of credit at the Culinary Institute of America — an accomplishment worth $16,400. 

Throughout all her classes, she weaves in information about food safety, sanitation, and the other aspects of the ServSafe Manager curriculum, allowing her students to naturally build the knowledge to get manager certified while they learn to prepare different foods. She tracks her students' progress in mastering the content, and students can test for the certification throughout the year. Four of her seniors are already certified this year, and she plans to test all 15 in her practicum class and even some of her juniors. Her goal is to have 20 students earn manager certification, ready for managerial jobs in the industry. 

“The manager certified students can get higher paying jobs,” she said. “They can go in as a manager instead of a line cook. A Starbucks manager can make $60,000 per year. They can do that and pay for college.”