Meet Mrs. Prieto, a teacher here at Rio Norte who is widely known around the school for running the Culinary elective classes! Mrs. Prieto has 3 daughters, one who is 11 years old that attends 5th grade at Valencia Valley Elementary, her 14 year old daughter who’s in 8th grade at Placerita Junior High, and her 22 year old daughter who just graduated college at LaVerne University.
Teaching Journey
Diving deeper into her teaching career Mrs. Prieto shares, “I worked for LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) in a variety of teaching and coordinator positions for over 15 years.” In 2021, Mrs. Prieto was welcomed to the teaching family of Rio Norte and has since expanded her teaching skills in culinary and sharing it with her students. She adds, “I do believe that giving students a foundation of culinary skills before entering high school is very important and will serve them for the rest of their lives. Everyone needs to eat each day – this class teaches you basic skills to make that possible.” Mrs. Prieto then concludes, “My class provides this foundation for all my students.”
Chef Prieto
An important aspect of teaching culinary arts for Mrs. Prieto is seeing her students improve and get better over time, as cooking is one of the important skills to familiarize students with because it will be very helpful throughout most of their lives. Mrs. Prieto adds, “Students gain a tremendous amount of confidence in the kitchen working with the oven, open fire, knives and following recipes. Students leave each semester with the ability to make a variety of food and follow most recipes.” This gives students the opportunity to gain more responsibility and handle things the correct and safe way especially when in the kitchen. 8th grader Alexandria Pacete who is in Mrs. Prieto’s 4th period culinary class says, “I like that Mrs. Prieto is dedicated to helping us strengthen our culinary skills.” She also adds, “What I enjoy most about being in Mrs. Prieto’s class is cooking and baking food with my friends.” Alexandria shares her favorite dish she has made with Mrs. Prieto’s culinary class was the dutch pancakes.
In general, Mrs. Prieto enjoys cooking and continues to get better each time and is always willing to share her talent with others including her students. Mrs. Prieto shares her favorite dishes to teach her students to cook. She adds, “Biscuits, dutch baby pancakes, cookies and apple galettes. When I have an advanced class I really enjoy having them make spring rolls and chicken fajitas.” As a personal favorite, Mrs. Prieto shares, “My favorite dish to cook is lemon chicken piccata, with angel hair pasta and haricot vert green beans.” If there’s anything Mrs. Prieto enjoys cooking most about cooking, it’s the time that you get to spend with the people you are surrounded by. She adds, “No matter what culture or country you are from, making and sharing a meal is the most cherished moments of your life. Most memories are made gathered around a meal.”
Inspiration
Cooking runs in Mrs. Prieto’s family. She shares, “My parents owned and operated a small deli growing up. I started working at the shop at the age of 10 so I learned quite a bit of the culinary industry, responsibility, service, and cooking.” This would open the door to a new talent of cooking which today she continues to excel in and share her talent amon her students. Mrs. Prieto adds, “Later in life, my husband encouraged me to attend culinary school, open my own business and then pursue a culinary teaching position.” Though, with cooking, there’s always challenges. Mrs. Prieto shares her most challenging aspects with cooking which would be reading the recipe. She says, “The most difficult thing about cooking is reading a recipe, following the instructions without doubting yourself or the outcome of the recipe.” Mrs. Prieto also shares how she overcomes these challenges with cooking. “Read the recipe 3 times before starting your mise en place [set up]. Stay organized in your work area. Clean along the way. Use the correct ingredients and don’t substitute if possible.”
When she’s not working in the kitchen, Mrs. Prieto enjoys hiking, visiting the beach, as well as food trucks and restaurants. Mrs. Prieto also enjoys spending time with her family, including going to the movies and shopping with her daughters. If you’re a 7th grader looking to be in culinary next year, see Mrs. Prieto in room C-3 for more information about her class.