Culinary Students Learn to Make Cake Pops

MOUNT VERNON – Students in the Culinary Arts 1 course at Mount Vernon High School worked with dough, sprinkles and chocolate to make cake pops on Tuesday, May 14. Petroula Lambrou Kalognomas, the owner of the Pelham bakery Patty Pops, walked students through the process of making their own cake pops for a Career and Technical Education (CTE) Week demonstration.

Ms. Lambrou Kalognomas first spoke to students about starting a business. She started Patty Pops five years ago and wanted to encourage students to pursue their passions, especially if it means opening their own business.

“I think a lot of times young people have a lot of pressure to decide what they want to do, what they want to major in and what they want to go to school for,” said Ms. Lambrou Kalognomas. “I think it’s really important to network, engage and try different things. I also encouraged them to do internships. I wanted to give a little bit of my experience and my advice, so that way people can see if it’s something that they want to do.”

Students learned about how to run a business and important information for starting one, such as obtaining a clientele. They then began making the cake pops. After they were done, each student ate their own chocolate-dipped cake pop.

“We held this demonstration so students could ask questions, learn from a local entrepreneur, and see what it takes to open up their own business,” said Samantha Cohen, the culinary arts teacher at MVHS. “They really gained insight from someone who has done it from the ground up, and someone who started with their idea in high school, so they can see they can do it as well.”

Stessy Lovinsky, a 12th-grade student at MVHS, is an intern at Patty Pops and assisted with the demonstration.

“I’m really happy I’m interning there,” said Stessy. “Ms. Cohen always tries to give everyone a chance to work in the industry, and I have actually really enjoyed it.”
Stessy is going to school for nutrition, so having experience working with food will be valuable for her future career.