FOLLOWUP: Where South Seattle College’s Pastry and Baking Arts program stands

| Puget Ridge | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

(WSB photo, April 10th)

A little over a month after students, faculty, and community members pleaded with the interim president of South Seattle College< (WSB sponsor) not to kill the Pastry and Baking Arts program, Peter Lortz has made a decision. The college’s communications director Ty Swenson says Lortz “is not forwarding a recommendation of program closure until more is learned from conversations with industry and further discussion with faculty.” Those conversations, he explains, emerged from “connect(ing) with those who expressed a willingness to support the program … a plan emerged for Seattle Colleges to meet with baking industry representatives to discuss how the district (this includes South Seattle College, Seattle Central College and North Seattle College) can best meet industry needs and student demand. Those meetings will be held in the near future.” In the meantime, though, Swenson adds, “South will not run Pastry & Baking Arts classes during Summer Quarter 2018 and is not currently accepting new students into the program for Fall Quarter 2018.”

Closure was recommended by the college’s vice president of instruction in the face of a college budget crunch, but before forwarding that recommendation to the district chancellor, Lortz convened a “listening session” that filled the school’s board room with supporters including prominent bakers/restaurateurs who said the program is an invaluable training ground for businesses like theirs.

KY May 15, 2018 (9:56 pm)

“In the meantime, though, Swenson adds, “South will not run Pastry & Baking Arts classes during Summer Quarter 2018 and is not currently =accepting new students into the program for Fall Quarter 2018.” It’s killed.

LyndaB May 16, 2018 (7:51 am)

I hope someone in the program or industry leader reads this. I graduated from the then called Medical Technology program at UW (c/o 99) It’s now called the Medical Laboratory Science program. During my school years, we rotated at UWMC, Harborview and the state lab. Some people maybe went to the VA. Anyway, fast forward to now. The program has multiple laboratories which participate as rotation sites through out the I-5 corridor. These effectively served as your opportunity to be pre-interviewed. You learn on site and they get to know you as a person. So when it is time to graduate and they have job openings, there is a better chance to be hired. Just like how the restaurant industry knows each other. They can give references about how a particular student did. Junior year you learn basics and senior year is your rotation.

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