From Classroom to the Kitchen: Meet Hennepin Tech’s Student Chef of the Year
Hennepin Technical College in Brooklyn Park is celebrating one of its students. Joni Mack was recently named Student Chef of the Year by the American Culinary Federation Minnesota Chefs Chapter.
What makes the achievement more remarkable — she received the honor after going back to school in retirement following a lengthy career as an elementary school teacher.
“I’m older than all my teachers, man,” laughed Mack, who taught preschool and kindergarten children.
A Polish Feast
To receive a culinary degree, Hennepin Tech students must complete a capstone project. For Mack, it was overseeing a five-course feast served to dozens of guests.
Staying true to her Polish roots, Mack served recipes she remembered from her childhood: smoked Polish sausage served with potato pancakes, dill pickle soup, and cabbage rolls stuffed with beef, pork and rice in tomato sauce for the main entree. And there’s dessert too — a rustic Polish cheesecake made with homemade twaróg cheese and blueberry sauce.
“This is Polish home cooking, humble, honest and made with love,” Mack told the crowd.
The project is especially challenging because Mack isn’t allowed to do any of the cooking. She had to teach her fellow students the recipes.
“It’s not just teaching people how to work with food, but it’s also teaching people how to work with time schedules and emotional management and stress. And I had to learn how to do a lot of that myself too,” explained Mack.
Joni Mack’s Polish cheesecake made with homemade twaróg cheese and blueberry sauce.
A Second Act
For Mack, being the teacher isn’t unusual. It’s her later-in-life second act going back to school during her retirement years.
“I looked at what I loved doing in school and my favorite things with the kids were science and art. And if you combine the two you come up with the culinary arts,” said Mack. “Especially in baking and pastry, it’s so incredibly scientific. And then in the savory foods like today, it’s a real art putting all of those things together.”
Culinary instructor Denis Durnev said Mack has become an inspiration to younger students.
“Joni sets a very high standard and example for other students,” said Durnev. “And if Joni can do it, that means, you know, there is more opportunities for the younger students in this career.”
Mack serves guests kompot, a traditional Polish drink made by simmering fresh fruit
Student Chef of the Year
So why in retirement would someone go back to school, particularly in the demanding culinary field?
Mack says it’s all about service.
“It turns out that the more organizations I get involved with, the more organizations I realize need people who can do food and do it well, but also people who can do food from the heart too,” said Mack.
Chef of the Year Selection Committee members said Mack’s desire to volunteer combined with her dedication to the culinary profession is why she was selected Student Chef of the Year, an honor that comes with a scholarship to help pay for her schooling.
“You can tell she was in education and an amazing teacher for years because of what went into her application,” said Sara Dooley, a member of the selection committee for the American Culinary Federation-Minnesota Chefs Chapter. “It is the standard now for all of our scholarship applications.”
Mack’s volunteerism is extraordinary: from providing food service for the nonprofit Immigrant Kitchen to making birthday cakes for children facing social and economic adversity through the nonprofit For Goodness Cakes.
“Joni is an example of the student … I hope she sets an example to everyone, to the future generation,” said Durnev.
As for the Polish feast, she impresses there, too.
“Everything has been so flavorful,” said Dooley. “It’s warm when it’s supposed to be and cold when it’s supposed to be, and it’s just, yeah, it’s very satisfying.”
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