The 2024 Pendleton Round-Up is just a memory for most people, but for the culinary students at Pendleton High School, they are carrying their experience into the school year. Every year for the past eight years, students from PHS foods classes volunteer in the 1910 Room, an exclusive venue at the Round-Up Grounds that serves gourmet meals to patrons who pay $300 or more a day.

Kaden Clark, PHS Foods Teacher, explains how it works. The Round-Up Association hires a chef for the 1910 Room; for the first six years, outside chefs were hired, but last year and this year, Clark was the chef hired under a private contract. In addition, PHS students volunteer for the Round-Up in the 1910 Room under Clark’s direction. All of the food preparation is done in the kitchen at P-TECH and the food is served out of the PHS food truck at the grounds. For the use of the kitchen and the food truck, the Round-Up Association makes a $5,000 donation to the PHS foods program.

This year, 38 PHS students volunteered. For four days in a row, Wednesday through Saturday, Clark and his students serve a five-course meal during the rodeo to about 165 to 185 people each day in the 1910 Room. And it’s a lot of work. Clark starts Sunday of Round-Up week, working every day from about 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM through Saturday night. The concept is to offer a dining experience you can’t get anywhere else in Pendleton.

“It’s a really cool experience for the students because they don’t really have many opportunities to see the fine dining aspect,” Clark said.

Clark’s favorite part is the menu creation process because he loves cooking from scratch and creating dishes that are his own. The students rolled over 1200 egg rolls this year for one of the appetizers, which Clark said was a good experience for doing bulk prep, which students don’t get in the high school classroom setting. Clark said he enjoys seeing the kids get excited about what they are creating, like making beignets from scratch or getting to cook scallops, a food many are not familiar with. “It’s really fun to give them an experience they’re not going to have anywhere else, to give them a different outlook on food and to really see into the food industry and different opportunities they could have in it.”

What’s it like to serve in the 1910 Room? Students, attired in black pants and black chef coats, learn the proper way to serve and clear dishes, how to approach customers, how to be respectful, and more. Clark said the PHS students do a great job, and every single day, he gets compliments about the job they have done. Clark said although the students are exhausted at the end of each day, they really enjoy the work. He also points out that even if students don’t want to work in the food industry, having employable skills like showing up on time and completing daily tasks is something that will benefit them in any kind of job they have in the future.

Araya is a Transition Student at Pendleton High School who recently started volunteering at her dream job. She volunteers once a week at the Pendleton Public Library, something she has been training to do for a long time.

Araya uses a self-driven, powered wheelchair and has the functional use of one hand. Several years ago, she started volunteering as a Teacher’s Assistant in the Pendleton High School Library. Jami Niord, Library/Media Specialist at PHS, trained Araya to complete various jobs in the library. Araya often said, “I want to be a librarian when I grow up.”

When she applied for the public library volunteer position, Araya’s application included a “resume” of skills she had learned in the PHS library, including locating bar codes and checking books in and out, shelving, cleaning and sanitizing various areas, and straightening up chairs and tables. In her new job, Araya independently checks books and DVDs into the public library and places them on a rack to be shelved later.

Coree Terjeson, PHS Special Education Teacher, said the years of experience in the school library guided by the PHS media specialist and Paraprofessionals helped Araya flawlessly step into her new role. “Araya’s disabilities do not conquer her; instead, they fuel her determination. Everyone knows and loves Araya for who she is. She is turning her passion for books into invaluable job skills, and her journey is a testament to the power of opportunity,” Terjeson said.

PHS Paraprofessional Peggy Ruiz has worked closely with Araya for several years and said that Araya is very proud of herself for having an “adult” job since she is a PHS graduate. Ruiz said that often, when learning something new, Araya needs repetition to remember; when she says, “I can’t do it,” Ruiz replies with, “You can figure it out because you are what”? Then Araya replies with, “I am smart, and I am capable.” Ruiz said, “She has definitely learned she is both of those things.”