Chef Bryan Gilroy teaches culinary and life skills at Westminster High School.
By Monte Whaley
Chef Bryan Gilroy happily traded a bustling kitchen producing culinary delights for elite diners for a homecoming food truck and a heart-tugging mention in a student’s yearbook.
“I like to think I am teaching my students more than just how to prepare a meal,” the 45-year-old Gilroy said. “I like to think I am also teaching them to show up for work on time, be prepared to do your job and work with others to get things done properly.”
“I would like to think that I am also preparing them for life,” Gilroy said.
Gilroy earned a Career and Technical Education authorization from the state to teach culinary arts at Westminster High School. The CTE program helps put professionals like Gilroy, with real-life experiences, in a classroom to teach.
Gilroy is beginning his third year as the culinary instructor for about 30 students. His low-key style has led his students to a third-place finish in a statewide restaurant-style competition in March. They produced a menu consisting of pan-roasted Atlantic Salmon and an upside-down no-bake cheesecake.
The food comes from Gordon Foodservice, Costco and King Soopers and is paid for from Gilroy’s class budget.
His tutelage about meal planning and about other ways to produce healthy meals recently earned Gilroy Teacher Of The Year honors at Westminster High School.
There is no Gordon Ramsay-like yelling in his classroom. Instead, Gilroy emboldens his young students to speak up, work with others and communicate.
“I really want them to open up and be heard and put out their ideas,” Gilroy said. “It really doesn’t work any other way.”
Able to work in any kitchen
Gilroy uses the ProStart curriculum, which is a two-year, industry-backed school program created by the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation. It teaches culinary arts and restaurant management, and aims to develop new chefs and the newest restaurant managers.
Students learn knife skills, cooking methods – from dry heat, moist heat and a combination of both – the difference between stocks, sauces and baking basics. They must also understand food safety standards, workplace safety and restaurant management – including front-of-the-house and back-of-the-house operations, Gilroy said.
Global cuisines and sustainability are also topics in his classroom, which is populated by would-be chefs or students who want to learn some valuable life skills, Gilroy said.
“When they graduate, they should be able to work well in nearly any kitchen, at least know the basics of cooking and working with others,” Gilroy said.
His classes cover basic anatomy of animals, including chickens and cows, as well as the chemistry and math involved in making a meal. Mostly, Gilroy concentrates on gently prodding his students to get involved in the kitchen/classroom.
“I think a lot of what I do is getting kids out of their shells and getting them to participate in what’s going on,” Gilroy said. “A lot of these kids just need a little nudge to help out.”
His students have used their cooking skills to prepare the fare for a food truck they rolled out at homecoming. They also produced hometown meals for students from other countries who are enrolled at Westminster High.
His students faced the toughest test of resilience and ingenuity in March when they took on 150 other students at the Colorado ProStart Student Invitational in Denver.
No water, no electricity
Teams had to create an appetizer, entree and dessert without running water or electricity.
After huddling with Gilroy, the Westminster crew’s first course included a chilled salad of watermelon, cucumbers, cantaloupe, avocado and feta cheese with a balsamic vinaigrette and toasted pumpkin seeds.
Then came the main course, which was pan-roasted Atlantic Salmon, garlic butter asparagus, truffle-scented Peruvian purple potatoes with an orange citrus butter sauce.
Dessert was an upside-down no-bake cheesecake with fresh strawberries, graham cracker crust and mixed berry coulis.
“The students came up with the menu themselves, and then we work together to make sure it is doable and then come up with a plan to make it happen,” Gilroy said via email. “I was so proud of them, and I loved seeing the creativity.”
Westminster High took third place overall for the Hospitality Cup in the competition. Gilroy, meanwhile, won Westminster High’s Teacher Of The Year from the Westminster Elks Lodge 2227 in May for his work with students.
Westminster High School principal Maureen Bangsund said via email that Gilroy doesn’t just teach his students how to cook – he helps them see the connection between what they learn in school and the world beyond the classroom.
“In Bryan’s classroom, math suddenly has a purpose. Science is happening right in front of you. Reading, writing, and communication matter. Even social studies comes to life as students explore food, traditions, and cultures from around the world,” Bangsund said. “He has this incredible ability to take things students may have encountered in their core classes and help them understand, “Oh, this is why I need to know this.”
“But I think what makes Bryan especially impactful is that he understands his job is about so much more than culinary skills,” she said. “His classroom gives students a place to learn how to work as a team, have conversations with people who may be different from them, solve problems, communicate, and build relationships.”
Maybe one of the most important things Gilroy teaches is the courage to make mistakes, the principal said.
“Because you make mistakes in the kitchen all the time. A recipe doesn’t work. Something burns. You add too much of something. And you figure out what happened, adjust, and try again. There is an incredible life lesson in that,” Bangsund said.
Gilroy said perhaps the greatest accolade he has ever received as chef came when one of his students wrote in his yearbook that he considered Gilroy’s classroom a “safe space.”
“You really can’t do much better than that,” Gilroy said.
Dining and Cooking