While completing class registration for next school year, students noticed a few changes on their registration papers. Several classes will be cut, including Food and Nutrition, a cooking class that has been a popular choice for sophomores, juniors and seniors for over 10 years. The class has always been taught by Belinda Knott, who was voted Dulaney’s Teacher of the Year nominee for the 2020-2021 school year. She has taught students basic cooking skills as well as information about nutrition, food sustainability and kitchen safety. Students are able to apply their knowledge in the lab where they cook food to eat and take home for family and friends. The skills they learn easily transfer back to students’ own homes.

For the past 12 years, Knott has enjoyed helping students learn about nutrition and practical life skills. 

“My favorite parts are getting the students to start to think about their eating habits and maybe make better choices about their eating habits. I definitely feel like a lot of my students say these are practical life skills that [they] can use for the rest of [their lives],” said Knott.

She also appreciates students’ growth in the kitchen over the course of a school year. 

She said, “I also think it’s fun to see people grow from first quarter to fourth quarter with the culinary parts. I have students start out not knowing anything at all about cooking and then they’re doing Iron Chef and not using a recipe by fourth quarter.”

Despite the positive experiences Food and Nutrition has given students, the program is ending. As for Knott, she will begin teaching health next year, beginning to implement the expanded curriculum at Dulaney (see Another Half Credit of Health? by Lily Hemmeter from the March edition). Although she will miss teaching Food and Nutrition, she is excited to continue to teach practical skills to students.

When asked about the health curriculum, she said, “I really like all the topics in the health class. I think that they’re all equally important and again practical skills that you’re learning that you’ll use for the rest of your life.  I think that with a lot of people’s mental health right now, we could all use reminders.”

She hopes she will be able to continue the legacy of Food and Nutrition in health class during the nutrition unit.

“I think that it’s important to know how to cook for yourself and fuel your body in a healthy way but I’m hoping that I can still take that part of the class and do it in the nutrition unit when I’m teaching health.”

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