by Malcolm Butler
Buried in one of the classrooms in the basement of Ruston High School, there is a class literally just trying to survive.
Well, maybe not literally.
Every day around lunchtime, RHS teacher/coach David Poe welcomes a handful of junior and senior male Bearcats into his “kitchen” as he helps teach these young men some basic – yet very necessary – skills they will need in the very near future.
“They are about to be out on their own,” said Poe, now in his 11th year teaching at Ruston High. “I am loving teaching the class. The kids are a lot of fun. I get to teach guys things that they enjoy, but also things they need to know. That’s what I love about teaching this class. It’s never going to be, ‘When am I going to use this?’ This is every day life skills and we get to have some fun with it.”
The semester long class — the first semester ends next week — includes topics such as cooking, cleaning, budgeting, banking, resume building, car maintenance, and others.
Basic, yet necessary.
Next semester, Poe expects to have 14 or 15 young men in the class, one that he is in his first year of teaching.
“This is my first year teaching food and nutrition and bachelor survival,” said Poe, who took over for the retired Janet Maxwell. “I have been a math teacher the last 14 years.”
Math to food and nutrition and … bachelor survival? Interesting twist in professional path.
“Ms. Maxwell lives right down the road from me and is a friend of mine,” said Poe. “She knew I could cook and have a background in child development. She told Mr. (Dan) Gressett that I would be a good fit. I asked him if I got certified, if he would let me have the class.”
So this past summer, Poe passed the praxis text in family consumer science and began his new set of curricula.
Not only has the class been a hit, but so has Poe.
“Mr. Poe is a really great teacher,” said senior Patrick Byrd. “Hearing him tell his life experiences while teaching the curriculum is really cool. And just learning things that they don’t teach in other classrooms.”
“He is a cool teacher,” said senior Nathan Sullivan. “I like Mr. Poe. I like the way he teaches. He talks to us a lot about the stuff we are learning. He keeps us active and involved.”
Poe said he thinks back to when he was learning the ways of the world.
“They get to ask questions and they don’t feel judged by what they don’t know,” said Poe. “I have found that their are always several of them who simply have never experienced some of these skills. A lot of the things that I take for granted now, I think back to when I was in high school and college … and what did I need to know.”
The most recent activity has been learning how to make beignets.
“We try to do some basic cooking things,” said Poe. “We have taught how to make grilled cheese. How to make scrambled eggs. Beignets is a little more advanced, but I wanted something a little more special for them. (Wednesday) I am going to teach them how to make a breakfast casserole.”
Talking to the students taking Bachelor Survival this semester, the cooking aspect seems to be their favorite.
“One of the funnest things we did was we prepared a Thanksgiving dinner,” said Byrd. “That was really fun. We made pulled pork. It was cool to learn the process of all of that.”
The meal consisted of things like pulled pork, green beans, corn and potatoes, according to Byrd.
Poe’s classroom includes six kitchens where the students get to have a hands-on approach to cooking.
“Can they follow that recipe, follow the instructions and actually have a similar outcome,” said Poe. “One of the challenges about the class has been that I have gone from math where everything is precise. You have a right or wrong answer.
“But now I am sending kids into the kitchen, and I have to allow them to make some small mistakes. We aren’t allowing huge failures, but if they do something wrong with it, they have to experience the outcome. I have to allow the organized chaos. That’s been the biggest challenge for me.”
Sullivan said some of the topics of Bachelor Survival have been a little eye opening.
“We learned about car insurance,” said Sullivan. “Like some of the prices … the newer the car, the higher the insurance.”
And what about tests?
“I taught them how to tie a tie,” said Poe. “So, their grade was can they tie a tie?”
A must for any bachelor.
