From STAFF REPORTS

AMERICUS — South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) culinary arts instructor, Chef “Ricky” Ludwig Watzlowick , and his culinary arts students recently helped to put smiles on the faces of the special guests, their parents, and the volunteers participating in the “Night to Shine” prom event for people with special needs. The event was hosted recently by First Baptist Church in Americus in sponsorship with the Tim Tebow Foundation.
“We were asked to help provide cookies for this unforgettable prom night experience for people with special needs ages 14 and over,” said Watzlowick.  “Our students were excited to be a part of this special event and I took the opportunity to use it as a teaching experience for our culinary arts classes.”
Watzlowick and his students took a recipe for sugar cookies and utilized the ingredients provided for the cookies including a topping of blue sprinkles that helped make the cookies look like the “Night to Shine” blue and white theme.
The students utilized math skills as well as their culinary arts training to make the cookies. They calculated how many batches of cookies they would need to make their goal. Then they divided and weighed all of the ingredients so that each batch would be identical.
The chef also showed the students how to weigh each ball of cookie dough so that the cookies all were the same size and weighed the same amount. “By doing this we are insuring that the cookies all bake evenly,” he said. “If you have a small cookie and a large cookie on the same sheet, then one may be over cooked and one under cooked.”
This was a great learning experience for the culinary arts students who hope to one day work in the industry or start their own businesses. “I love it when we can do a project that the students can take pride in and that also helps them realize their goal of one day working in this industry,” said Watzlowick. “By incorporating and concentrating on math skills for this particular project, we were also able to show the students why it is important to have those types of skills in everyday life. This is a way to make math real and fun.”
SGTC offers associate degree and diploma classes in culinary arts.  Students can also enroll in short-term technical certificate of credit courses as well. For more information contact Chef “Ricky” Ludwig Watzlowick in Americus at lwatzlowick@southgatech.edu or 229-931-2558 or Chef Johnny Davis at the Crisp County Center in Cordele at jdavis1@southgatech.edu or 229-271-4086.