Camden County Technical School debuts expanded culinary arts program

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Serving up a project that began almost three years ago, the Camden County Technical School debuted its expanded culinary arts program.

Staff, students and the Camden County Board of Commissioners came together Feb. 27 to celebrate the new Pennsauken Campus space. The $7.6 million project added more than 20,000 square feet with an area exclusively for baking and pastry arts. Funding for the work came from the Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act.

New features include:

• A culinary career lab on each floor
• An instructional support and service simulation kitchen
• Two theory/instructional classrooms
• Cold storage
• Student changing rooms

The expansion adds 80 new seats for Culinary Arts students over four years, as well as space for 20 additional enrollees in other career and technical programs. By the end of 2028, the Pennsauken Campus will have capacity for 100 more students – a 14% increase in enrollment – according to the county.

“This expansion will benefit our students greatly as they will have better access to programming that will prepare them for careers after graduation,” said Commissioner Jonathan Young, liaison to CCTS. “This new baking and pastry arts area will give students the hands-on experience they need to find success.”

Superintendent Wanda Pichardo also highlighted the “booming” hospitality industry. “[S]tudents enrolled in either of these career programs will learn skills and earn industry-valued credentials providing them with multiple pathways to enter directly into the workforce or continue in a post-secondary tract,” she said.

Camden County celebrated the start of the project in 2022. Its launch coincided with work to expand manufacturing engineering technology career pathways at the CCTS Gloucester Township Campus.

That $7 million investment made its debut last October, during Manufacturing Month.