Local students work their way into local dining — and local farming.
In the weeks leading up to Happy Valley Restaurant Week, we had the opportunity to talk with four State College Area High School Culinary Arts students (past and present) who now work at RE Farm Café. They tell us what it’s like to work at this one-of-a-kind farm to table restaurant and what they are putting into practice from their SCASD culinary arts experience.
RE Farm owners Duke and Monica Gastiger have a great relationship with the director of State College Area High School’s Culinary Arts program, Chef Zach Lorber, and they often reach out when they are looking for more team members.
“I am always learning from them,” says owner Monica Gastiger when speaking about the staff that has come through the State High culinary arts program. And she is confident that they are learning a lot from RE Farm. “We offer a unique kind of cross-training where everyone gets to do a bit of everything,” she says.
Chef Brenda Palmer of RE Farm Cafe says the staff who have come through the culinary arts program are able to work together in a way that is impressive. “That’s something I didn’t have to teach them. They all help each other. They all came here with that already ingrained in them. I’m very grateful for that,” Palmer says.
Marlee Schram
Marlee Schram graduated from State High in 2021 and went through the culinary arts program at SCASD just as Chef Zach Lorber was transitioning into teaching after more than 20 years in the restaurant industry. She remembers Lorber telling students, “Whatever you want to make, let’s find a way to make it during your time here.”
Schram appreciated the creativity that Chef Lorber invited into the program, going beyond the basics of knife skills and how to cook an egg. “He let us do whole meals based on different cuisines which we never would have been able to before,” Schram says.
Before arriving in the RE Farm kitchen, Schram graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, interned at restaurants in New York and New Jersey, worked in the State College Area School District kitchens, and cooked at downtown’s Allen Street Grill.
Schram says that working at RE Farm is so different from everywhere else she’s been because everyone is nice to one another. “Even in high stress moments, everyone is kind and understands that we are all in this together,” Schram says. She remarks that this kind of healthy working environment is super rare in the restaurant world. Schram even jokes with Chef Brenda, telling her she needs to be meaner.
Liam Hynes
Liam Hynes is going into his senior year at State High this fall and started working at RE Farm in May as a dishwasher with hopes to move into food prep. He says the experience he got in his culinary arts classes felt very real. “I was able to apply to a working setting really easily,” he says. It’s skills like being able to work on the fly and interact with people while remaining calm that he names as some of the most meaningful take-aways from his classes.
Hynes appreciates that Chef Lorber shares job postings with his students — that’s how he found out about this work opportunity. And even though he doesn’t plan on working in restaurants as a career (he plans to study philosophy) he is really enjoying it as a job now. “It feels very cohesive, as an environment. When something needs to be done, someone who has the chance will do it even if it’s not in their job description.”
Emery Goodstein
Emery Goodstein is also going into his senior year at State High and says that there is a strong emphasis on teamwork in the SCASD culinary arts program; they practice their direct communication skills with one another and are taught to always find ways to be helpful. He says the program is “not just about making you a better chef, but making you a better person in general.”
Goodstein started out as a host at RE Farm. Now he does food prep and sometimes gets to work on the line. He is really interested in the farm to table aspect of the restaurant and likes being able to broaden his horizons with the foods he gets to try.
At home, Goodstein is working to perfect his pad Thai recipe. While the Culinary Institute is on his list of possibilities, he is also open to other paths for his future.
Tristan Rogers
Tristan Rogers has been at RE going on three years. He started at the beginning of his sophomore year and just graduated from State High this summer. He’s done a little bit of everything — food running, bussing, serving, hosting, food prep. Now, he is a line cook or a “composer,” as they say at RE.
Rogers says that Chef Brenda provides mentorship and guidance in the kitchen and also lets him explore, play around and be creative with the ingredients they have available. In February, Rogers composed a special dish of daikon hearts simmered in a white miso butter. These heart-shaped daikon radishes started as a fun amuse bouche for Valentines Day — and became so popular that they added it to the menu as a small dish.
In the fall Rogers will study Hospitality Management at Penn State while continuing to work at RE. He’s looking forward to summer and all that will be growing on the farm.
