Western’s School of Business Cooks Up Opportunities for High School Students

Without a plan, life after high school can be hard. Fortunately, Damyon Funk knows exactly what he wants to do.

The Gunnison High School senior and two-sport athlete has plans to wrestle and study business in college. After graduation, he’s planning to work and gain new experiences before settling down and starting a business of his own, specifically a restaurant. But before he could execute those plans, he needed some culinary training. That’s when Western Colorado University got involved.

Through the Pathways vocational program at Gunnison High School (GHS), Damyon connected with Michael Vieregge, a professor of business administration who advises students pursuing Hospitality Management at Western’s School of Business. The only problem was that Western didn’t have a culinary arts program at the time.

But there was a need. “There’s always been the need for back-of-the-house kitchen staff, and the Gunnison Valley is no exception,” Vieregge said. “So we came up with a certificate program for high school students that allows them to earn credits while in high school and get practical training.”

In 2022, Vieregge developed a culinary certificate program to help address the local restaurant workforce shortages, which were being exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, it was an opportunity for high school students to get a basic culinary education that could give them a foot in the door of a restaurant or a solid foundation for further culinary training.

Damyon was the first to complete the course, receiving his Culinary Certificate through Western’s Center for Learning and Innovation and the School of Business at a small ceremony outside Western’s Rare Air Café, where he did most of his training. Four others are still completing the course.

A New Program, Made from Scratch

Damyon’s journey might not have been possible without the creative thinking of Western’s faculty and staff to address a pressing need for more kitchen staff in the community. Working alongside the Pathways Program and Western’s food-service provider, Sodexo, Vieregge created a curriculum intended to turn a complete cooking novice into a contributing member of a professional kitchen.

The program includes six credits of online coursework – covering everything from basic culinary terminology and food safety to cuts of meat and types of sauces – and two three-credit internships requiring a total of 270 hours in the kitchen.

Eric Jaeger, Sodexo’s general manager, played a critical role in ensuring that Damyon could balance his kitchen shifts with his commitments in and outside of school. “I’m a student-athlete, running cross-country and wrestling. So I train all year round, and this program was able to work around that,” Damyon said. “I really appreciated how flexible it was. If I needed to take time off, they would move my schedule around.”

For GHS Pathways Director Chad Terry, the partnership with Western opens many doors for students interested in culinary training. “The partnership … has been a huge benefit to our students,” he said. “Through the program, students have been able to experience real-world working conditions in a professional kitchen in conjunction with coursework that has provided students with a foundation in culinary knowledge.

“Having a student complete the full program this fall and earn a [National Restaurant Association] certification is a testimony to the strength of that partnership,” Terry continued. “We hope this partnership can continue as the [School District] completes construction on a full culinary demonstration kitchen.”

The demonstration kitchen will open in 2026, and Vieregge is excited about the opportunities it will create for students like Damyon.

“I love eating, so now I can provide for myself and eventually provide for my family later on in life,” Damyon said of his decision to pursue a culinary career. “It’s also really fun. It’s called ‘culinary arts’, and it is an art form. There’s so much you can do with it.”