Story in Brief
Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts is a culinary institution that specializes in culinary and pastry arts education, offering accredited diploma and degree programs. Many students who attend the various programs at Escoffier struggle to graduate because of the six-week, 150-hour externship requirement at the end of their coursework. Invited by Escoffier Career Services in 2019, Chef Becca (also known as the UGA Extension agent in Clayton County) designed a comprehensive externship experience that allows students to explore non-traditional culinary careers through a virtual setting and to connect skilled culinary professionals with Cooperative Extension. The externship provides opportunities for real-life experiences and builds on the skills and techniques covered in the student’s coursework. The externship must be completed by an assigned date to fulfill their program commitment and become eligible for graduation. Prior to this innovative curriculum for the externship, students with physical restrictions, family responsibilities, or other limitations were often unable to complete the course and/or graduate on time. Through Chef Becca’s externship, students work in recipe and formula development, sensory testing, instructional videos, newsletter articles, and lesson plan creations. Out of 154 externs, 92 percent stated that they had a newfound interest in working for the Cooperative Extension system in the future. Before this externship opportunity, only 67 percent of virtual students were graduating. However, since 2019, the overall graduation rate for virtual students has increased to 89 percent. This is a 22 percent increase in four years. By September, 2023, the graduation rate reached 96 percent. The Clayton Fresh Externship has expanded the program and increased the externship reach for Escoffier. Since the implementation of the program through Cooperative Extension, Chef Becca has worked with more than 175 graduating students equating to approximately 3,800 hours of externship experience. Through the Externship, Chef Becca has reached students from 31 states and two countries. Said an Escoffier administrator, “What you have helped us accomplish and the lives you have changed, just from an Escoffier perspective, is amazing. We are clear that through our assessment in terms of people with significant barriers to the Externship, you have helped them in culinary arts, self-confidence, and career exploration.”
