What's cookin' at Owens? A new Executive Chef!

 


Owens Chef Gretchen Fayerweather in the Owens Kitchen

Can you smell what is cooking in the kitchen?  Owens associate professor Chef Gretchen Fayerweather can taste victory.
  Fayerweather graduated from Johnson & Wales University where she received a master's in teaching along with a bachelor's in Food Service Management and an associate's in Culinary Arts.   She has a number of awards along with being named the Maumee Valley Chefs Association's Chef of the Year in 2012. Fayerweather has been an associate professor at Owens since 2008.
  The American Culinary Federation (ACF) offers 14 different certification designations.  Chef Gretchen received Certified Executive Chef (CEC) on November 8.
  To receive this certificate, certain requirements must be met.  A chef must have a high school diploma with at least an associate's degree in culinary arts and at least three years of experience as a chef de cuisine, executive sous chef or pastry chef.  The Certified Executive Chef is one of the hardest certificates to obtain before the ten day test to become a Certified Master Chef.
  The written exam is comprised of 100 questions along with a practical exam.  For the practical exam, the chef must provide his or her own ingredients and make three different courses from a list of ingredients.  The three courses include an appetizer course that includes seafood, a salad course and a main course.
  Fayerweather said, “I prepared my menu a month before the exam.”
  ACF suggests that candidates practice the dishes ten different times.  Fayerweather said, "You must be very organized and each time I practiced, my food got different."


Chef Gretchen Fayerweather

  The chefs are given three hours to prepare and plate the food.  Fayerweather came up with her own timeline for the preparation of her food to make sure that she was staying within the given amount of time.  “Each time I practiced, I got faster and the last practice before the exam, I was 30 seconds under the time.”  After the three hour mark, chefs are given an extra 15 minutes to present the courses to the evaluators.  The meal must include six to seven ounces of protein, four different classic vegetable cuts, four different cooking methods, two different sauces and pairing the appropriate vegetable and starch with the main course.  Fayerweather said, "You are not supposed to look at recipes when taking your practice exam."
  Four plates are made: one for the evaluators to photograph and the rest are to eat.
  After the evaluators taste the food, the chefs have 30 minutes to clean up and go into another room.  Each chef is then individually evaluated and the chefs can tell the evaluators what they thought as well.
  The evaluators look at organization, the way chefs are dressed and how composed and professional they are.  Sanitation is pass or fail.  If a chef touches raw chicken and does not wash his or her hands before touching raw vegetables,  the evaluators wait until the end of the exam to issue the failing mark on sanitation. Evaluators also look at the craftsmanship of the dishes and how they are presented on the plate.
  This particular certification has a 65 percent pass rate for the written and practice exam.  “I am so excited that I passed. I freaking love it!” exclaimed Fayerweather
  She took the exam in Columbus but testing sites are all over the United States and given all year long.
  “Part of the reason why I wanted this certificate was because Owens is now a certified facility," she said.  "The other part is a personal accomplishment and I foresee us being able to do that type of testing at our amazing site.”
  "I am glad that I accomplished what I did but I would much rather be with the students."
 

Sports photography is harder than it looks

 

Owens girls basketball team lines up during the singing of the national anthem. 

During a break away, Demy Whitaker tries to score a basket against

Wayne County Community College’s Carmisha Legion.

  I have always loved watching sports.  Running up and down the court, hitting the ball back and forth across the net, players running down the field was a great site to see. 
  I played sports in high school so of course I thought that I new everything when it came to sports.  Than I tried taking pictures at sporting events and I realized that I did not know as much as I thought.
  Timing is key to catch the fast pace of a sporting event.  Predicting the action will help make great pictures possible. 
  There are different types of techniques that you can use while shooting sports.  Freezing action is a great way to make the reader feel that they are at the sporting event.  Photographers have to use a very fast shutter speed to freeze the action.  Depending on your lighting your camera should be set at 1/1000 of a second or higher.
  Panning is another tool that photojournalist use to make their pictures more interesting.  In a panned picture the subject is very clear and still while the background is streaked or blurred.  Panning is one of the hardest techniques to master as a sports photographer. 


Head Coach Michael Llanas yells at his players.

  Sports photography is not just about the action of the game but about what is going on around the game.  Taking pictures of the reactions of the players makes the story more interesting.  Getting pictures with the fans and coaches expressions can make some very memorable pictures.  Besides trying to anticipate the action, you have to keep in mind what you are focusing on.  When action is happing it is harder to keep your camera focused on one thing.  Some sports photographers use auto focus for that reason.    I attended a home girls basketball game at Owens.  I moved around the sidelines to get the shots that I wanted.  Even though I played basketball for over eight years, it was hard to anticipate where the ball was going to go.  My head was attached to my camera the entire time. 
  I learned a lot from trying to expect what was going to happen next.  I also had to figure out what type of shot that I wanted to take. 
  Taking pictures of the action was fun for me but the best part of the night was trying to find fans to take pictures of.  There was this little boy who was really getting into the game.  In between the periods and at time outs the music would start playing and he would jump up and start dancing.  All of the fans would watch and cheer him on. 

Fan Alan Carlisle cheers for the Owens Express

  

Learning and networking in Philly

  

Landscape of Philadelphia

Philadelphia is known for brotherly love. 

  I had the privilege to attend the ACP/CMA Fall National College Media Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from October 29th until November 2nd.  The convention was held at the Marriott in downtown Philadelphia.  Students from different states attended the convention so that they could better understand the field that they were going to be graduating in. 
  The convention covered all media outlets.  The days were broken down into hour long sessions starting at 9am and running until 5pm with no breaks in between.  There were over 325 different sessions that were available for students along with advisors.  The convention had three keynote speakers along with many different professionals that have been in their field for many years.     
  There was a lot of information that was given at once and it took some time to sink in.  I am now ready to change the way that I run the Owens Outlook. 
   One of the key things that I went home with is making sure that I help every one of my staff members.  Checking in with them as they work on their articles is a great way to help.  Just assigning them an article and letting them run with it and not communicating with them is not a good way to run a paper.  I can give them some tips; like who they can go to if they have to interview someone, or if they are stuck finishing their article. I realized it is important to make sure that I am approachable, and that my co-workers understand that if they have a problem they can ask me.
  Another big concept that I learned was to be more creative.  I always feel that our paper and headlines had to look like a traditional newspaper.  Not anymore!  I am encouraging my staff to be more creative when it comes to writing there articles.  The Outlook staff consists mostly of photographers; so the potential for creativity is there.  I want to try to add some streaming videos to our website as well as some Buzz feed.   


Head staff of the Philadelphia Daily News asking the students questions.

  In one of my sessions I learned different ideas for content to be added to the website.  One of the new goals is to implement a review section.  Students, staff and faculty will be able to submit reviews on movies, books and video games.  I feel that this section will get many different viewers because it is not just hard news.  It can be fun and interesting at the same time.    The Outlook staff had the privilege to tour the Philadelphia Daily News.  We got to talk to many of the staff members along with sitting in on one of their meetings when they were trying to decide what they would put on the front page of the paper.  Afterwards the heads of the paper even asked the students what they could do to make their paper better.  I could not believe that they asked us for ideas when they were the ones that had been in their positions for years.    Since the sessions were during the day, we had time to tour Philly.  We were right in the middle of everything.  There was a fabulous market across the street that housed local venders selling food and other items.  The last day there, we walked the six blocks to visit the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.  I was personally excited because I love the movie National Treasure.  I just wanted to stand were Nicholas Cage had years ago.  It was really neat to think that I saw a very important part of history.

The original Liberty Bell. 

  The trip was well worth it and I have Owens Community College to thank for sending me there.  I have confidence that with the information that I learned, I will be better prepared for my future in photojournalism.      






A man portals Independence Hall as they get ready to close.