Page 8 - Ohio Restaurant Association Industry Awards

Outstanding Industry Educator
DEBRA BATES
LANCASTER HIGH SCHOOL
I have been cooking for crowds all my life. My extended family is exceptionally large, and my grandmother lived with us, so I was her constant sidekick in the kitchen. I am from Kentucky, thus my southern accent.
In the last 46 years since graduating from college with a degree in home economics, I moved 9 times as my husband was transferred in his career. During those years, I worked at a variety of jobs from nutritionist to caterer and organized hundreds of events for my church and the communities we lived in. I also managed a remarkably successful Tupperware Career in which it was my goal not just to market a product but to teach people how to cook. It was that career that launched me into becoming a culinary instructor. I won a national demonstration contest when Tupperware introduced knives into the line and as a result Pennsylvania Culinary Institute hired me to do their high school recruiting.
I was often asked in the high schools why I was not teaching? My response, I did not have a teaching degree. So, when a high school offered to hire me and give me 2 years to get my teaching credentials,
I took the job and at age 47 launched my teaching career. I not only earned my teaching credentials but a master’s degree in education.
As a lifelong learner, I have earned countless credit hours in culinary arts realizing that for me to train my students to be the best, I had to learn best practices and be knowledgeable of the current industry trends and skills.
That strategy has paid off in countless ways, my students have earned more than a half a million dollars in scholarships and I have been honored with numerous local, state, and national industry and educational awards. This year in addition to this prestigious award, I also received the national Mercer Culinary/CAFÉ Technology Award presented to the top HS or Postsecondary educator. In 2020 I was awarded the Ohio ProStart Teacher of Excellence for the second time.
I have been teaching 21 years. I started my teaching career in Virginia, then taught in two schools in NJ and started the program at Lancaster High School in 2008. I will be retiring in Jan 2022. I am enormously proud of all my students both past and present.
Every year, I think there is no way to top the accomplishments of this class, but I am always amazed at the fact that the next class steps up and continues winning competitions, serving the community, earning scholarships, and excelling in their workplaces. Students consistently take the top places at state, ProStart, FCCLA and SkillsUSA competitions and advance to Nationals. They make names for themselves in college, their workplaces, and as leaders to emerge as the new superstars in the industry. I have been very blessed to be in a career I love and to be immersed in a network of industry and educational professionals who have supported me and helped me build one of the best high school programs in the nation at Lancaster High School. Go Gales.
2021
INDUSTRY AWARD WINNERS