Elissa Oliver is crazy about cooking: the creativity, the control, even the mania of a busy restaurant’s kitchen. The Cordon Bleu graduate has whisked her way through positions at the Cherokee Town and Country Club and the Viking Cooking School, and as a personal chef, but she says her best gig is teaching the next generation in Riverwood International Charter School’s culinary program.
“The students are what makes me come to work every day,” she said. “They know my very high expectations, and they’re as invested as I am. They see that I’m invested: When we’re cleaning the floor and washing dishes, I’m doing that, too. I also live around the corner, so they know I’m invested in the community, too.”
Oliver’s investment was recently noted by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation that named her among the country’s top culinary teachers for her creativity, commitment and excellence. The award caps seven years of transforming the school’s program, she said.
“When I got here, they wanted someone with determination and drive to revamp this program and transform it to a chef’s perspective,” she said. “I came from the industry, and my goal was to make sure students were meeting the department of education standards and getting career ready.”
Under Oliver’s leadership, a new culinary facility was built with a 4,000-square-foot kitchen, classrooms, office, cooler, locker room and storage area. Last fall, 305 students wanted to be in the program that is limited by space to 60 newcomers each year. Oliver currently teaches 198 students, about 98% of whom have stayed with her for three years and worked toward a certificate in career and technical education.
“Having that certificate makes them more likely to get hired and be paid more because they have real-world skills,” said Oliver.
Junior Owen Woodman has been in the program for three years and now works as one of Oliver’s assistants.
“I was drawn to the program because I’d heard about [Oliver] and the work she’d done,” he said. “I always had a burning passion for culinary, and since the school had this opportunity, I decided to take it.”
Woodman credits Oliver with teaching him what he needs to enter the industry after graduation. “But she also teaches lessons about life as well – interviewing and management skills, for instance. And she has connections in the community, so her students are often the first ones picked for a job.”
Last fall, Oliver’s students took first prize in the 2019-20 Fulton High School Chef Competition with a recipe for a chicken, spinach and ricotta calzone that became an option for the system’s cafeterias. Also last fall, her crew cooked and sold 1,075 quarts of chicken rice, minestrone, Italian wedding and andouille gumbo soups made with vegetables and herbs from the school’s garden. At $10 a quart, the effort netted $7,000 that went back into the program.
Todd Rushing, operating partner for Atlanta’s Concentrics Restaurants, recently dropped by Oliver’s kitchen and left wishing that such a program had existed when he was a Riverwood student in the early 1980s.
“Her kitchen has great equipment; it’s clean and organized,” he said. “The pride the kids have for the program is terrific and not what you see in a lot of high school kids. What really comes through is her passion; she’s really into her job, and the students are really into her. I saw a class of about 40 sitting on her every word. Her enthusiasm comes through to them. I’d be happy to have any of her students.”
Information on Riverwood is online at school.fultonschools.org/hs/riverwood.
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Each week we look at programs, projects and successful endeavors at area schools, from pre-K to grad school. To suggest a story, contact H.M. Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or 770-744-3042.
