The 2025 Food for Thought event, pictured above, featured local restaurants such as Aba and VERDAD. (Courtesy Food for Thought)
Advanced culinary arts students at Hays High School will have the opportunity to participate in the 30th anniversary Food for Thought tasting event on Oct. 29.
This year, CIS invited Hays CISD culinary students to participate in Food for Thought for the first time. HCISD offers culinary arts courses as part of the career and technical education department, or CTE. There are currently 251 students enrolled in the culinary arts program at Hays High School, according to CTE Director Rick Bough.
Hays High School culinary students work together to work on an assignment. (Courtesy Hays CISD)Courtesy Hays CISD
Leandra Walls, the culinary arts program lead at Hays High School, said about 27 students worked to prepare food for the event and six will accompany her.
"The event has asked us to prepare enough food for 600 people, and that is the largest event that we've ever been asked to cater for," Walls said. "If I didn't have such a big team of capable students helping, then there's just no way we could pull it off."
The Hays High School culinary team will serve a crawfish roll on garlic toast and a side of potato salad, with ingredients that mimic those in a traditional crawfish boil.
Quote of note
"I think that her program changes lives," Bough said. "In some cases, [it ends] generational poverty because of the skills that students are able to learn in the classroom."
About the organization
Communities in Schools of Central Texas collaborates with a number of local school districts, including HCISD, San Marcos CISD and Austin ISD, to identify needs and provide resources and support to students.
