By: Ayanna Warren
OwlFeed Journalist

Cooking is something that’s going to be around forever. Even though cooking is crucial to living, people must not think food is an important factor in their lives because some people don’t even know the basics of cooking.

High school is a time where teenagers are supposed to become more independent but how can they do that if they don’t know how to cook for themselves?

High school is a place where students get taught your basic education and some future ideas for an occupation. But why isn’t being a chef an option at Agua Fria?

“A cooking class will gain students interest in something they wanna do and are indeed passionate about cooking,” said sophomore Sydni Griffin. “Without a cooking class, like right now, students are bored and there’s not many options with classes on campus.”

Junior and senior year are difficult. Students have to start focusing on college, on top of their jobs and hard classes. Culinary class can be a break from that. They can have a good time talking to their friends when they’re cooking that pizza or chicken noodle soup, not worrying about the AP test they have next class.

A lot of kids in the world are too lazy to learn how to cook, meaning cooking teaches teens responsibility. I’m sure high school is a place where teachers want the youth to be more mature and responsible.

If they never take the time to learn to cook, they become reliant on their parents to make them something after they get off work. The youth have to understand that parents come home from working a 10 hour shift trying to get money to provide for their family. They can’t expect them to be in the mood to cook for their 16-year-old child.

“If I take cooking classes in high school now, it will prep me for when I graduate high school and I move out. I can cook for myself and provide food for myself,” freshman Edsel Ortiz said.

We’re not going to be under our parents’ roof our whole lives. Some people want to go to college or travel or just move out. We can’t depend on Doordash or Uber Eats every single day. It’s time to cook for ourselves and stop being lazy.

Cooking can be fun. I’m sure pretty much everyone knows how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or cup of noodles, but when you create a whole dinner course? That just feels like an accomplishment.

It’s kind of like getting an A on that test you didn’t study for. You get the same exact feeling of achievement.

Sophomore Alexia Austin has been to a high school with cooking classes. She says, “We learned how to make an egg correctly. We learned how to make proper burgers, we made pizza with homemade dough. Also we made desserts for holidays, and I learned how to make ceviche in there.”

Culinary classes is a way for students who are less fortunate to have a warm meal. I understand we have reduced lunch if we fill out a form, but some parents or teenagers might have a hard time filling it out because they’re embarrassed or don’t feel like it.

I understand that it might be hard to come up with the money for a class, but we can always do fundraisers, like have a bake sale or wash cars every once in a while. We can give the cafeteria people a break and cook the lunch for the day.

Cooking class is a good way to help the students here at Agua Fria. We can express ourselves through food; one of humanity’s favorite creations.