PHOTOS: The Compass Rose Cafe serves up quality food with heaping side dishes of life skills

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PHOTOS: The Compass Rose Cafe serves up quality food with heaping side dishes of life skills

How a Georgia high-school classroom became a fine-dining restaurant

A student serves guests in the dining room at the Compass Rose Cafe on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Macon. This high school program teaches students the culinary arts. A couple of days a month, they run a restaurant, cooking meals as chefs and serving them as wait staffers with the help of three professional chefs. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Student Destani Smith prepares for lunch service in the kitchen at the Compass Rose Cafe. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Student Destani Smith washes rosemary in the kitchen at the Compass Rose Cafe. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Culinary instructor Shawn Mentzer teaches a student inside the Compass Rose Cafe kitchen. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Students work together to plate lunch courses inside the kitchen at Macon’s Compass Rose Cafe. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Students carry ingredients to the kitchen of Macon’s Compass Rose Cafe. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Student recipe cards are displayed at the Compass Rose Cafe in Macon. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Culinary instructor Mark Robinson teaches students inside the Compass Rose Cafe kitchen in Macon. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Student Destani Smith walks through the kitchen at the Compass Rose Cafe. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Students work together to pour mashed potatoes into a tray. A couple of days a month, students run a restaurant, cooking meals as chefs and serving them as wait staffers. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

A student prepares lunch on the grill inside the kitchen of Macon’s Compass Rose Cafe. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Executive chef and educator Stuart Hardy plates dishes at the Compass Rose Cafe in Macon. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Students take notes inside the classroom at the Compass Rose Cafe in Macon. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Students walk through the kitchen at the Compass Rose Cafe. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Lobster is plated at the Compass Rose Cafe on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Macon. A high school program teaches students the culinary arts. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Culinary instructor Mark Robinson holds the door for a student server in the Compass Rose Cafe kitchen. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Guests fill the dining room at the Compass Rose Cafe on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Macon. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

A student server brings the second course into the dining room of Macon’s Compass Rose Cafe. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

A plated meringue dish is ready to be served at the Compass Rose Cafe in Macon. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

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Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com

A student serves guests in the dining room at the Compass Rose Cafe on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Macon. This high school program teaches students the culinary arts. A couple of days a month, they run a restaurant, cooking meals as chefs and serving them as wait staffers with the help of three professional chefs. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

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