JESSE AHMAD – Muskogee

While Jesse Ahmad is a football player at Muskogee High School, he is also working on a future in an unusual occupation as a chef by taking the Culinary Arts course at Indian Capital Technology Center. 

“When I first moved to Muskogee two years ago, I didn’t have football, and I was looking around for something to do. I love cooking for people and making them happy and I have a Middle East background with all of its amazing foods, and I found this culinary course and got into it last year,” said Ahmad.

The Culinary Arts course is taught by Jeff Howard who has 40 years of experience in the field and has been at ICTC for over six years.

“This is a two-year program that teaches the basics of culinary arts including cooking with different meats, breakfast dishes and sauces as well as management techniques to use if they want to have their own business someday,” said Howard. “It’s about getting them comfortable with something that they can do for the rest of their lives. Even if it’s not a career choice, it’s a useful tool to have in everyday life. The students will earn two food certifications, a food handler’s card and take a couple of career tech exams as they go through the course. Jesse is a lively student with a good temperament that asks a lot of questions, which is a great asset. I’m a martial arts person and I tell the students that this class is a lot like earning a black belt in karate-it’s not the end of the journey but just the beginning.” 

Jesse acknowledges there have been challenges along the way but he’s optimistic about the opportunities that are available.

“Probably the biggest eye-opener for me has been that I’m not very good at math or figuring proportion sizes, but I think I’ll get job offers out of this class, and I’d eventually like to save up and open a food truck someday.”

Jesse says there is a correlation between football and his culinary class.

“There’s stress in both but practice makes perfect both in football and cooking.”