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Teacher Spotlight:
Who's Cooking? Chef Franci!
May 1, 2024
Mrs. Zimmerman's Note-
I amost made an edit choice on this title, but since no grammatical misakes were made to keep the title accurate, I kept it. :)
Image from Franci Hencke
When she was little, Chef Franci said that she would “line up her dolls and teach things to them”. That's what she wanted to do, she wanted to be a teacher.
Chef Franci was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro but her family is from a different state, called Minas Gerais, a state much like Wisconsin, known for cheese and comfort foods.
Chef Franci went to school to be an English teacher as a second language. She wanted to teach English as a second language since she was young.
She loved the language, so she started learning at age 12. When she got to college at 19, she knew more English than her peers. She became a tutor in her school to help the other students learn English, which was one of her first experiences she had for teaching.
College classes in the United States are a bit different from colleges in Brazil. Generally in the United States college requires students to take courses outside of major as electives, but in Brazil classes stay focused on one's major. For example, if a student was to go learn English, courses would be in the realm of English literature, North American literature, and Portuguese English.
This is also quite similar to the high school experience in Brazil as there is no art, robotics, or culinary. It is strictly math, science, geography, history and portuguese.
Getting into college is also different from here. Brazilian students have to graduate high school and have high scores on a comprehensive test of high school education. To get into college, students in Brazil need the highest scores because there are not enough seats for everyone to go to college in Brazil.
Image from wikipedia.com
Image from Franci Hencke
When Chef realized how much she loved to create food, she tried her best to become a chef.
Chef Franci went to a US school for Culinary Arts, after realizing her passion for serving others with the work of her hands. After a decade of industry experience she had the opportunity to get into teaching, which seemed like a great fit.
The change from a 4-year Brazilian college focused on getting a degree to a U.S. college was hard.
Not only was Chef Franci dealing with a completely new environment but also transitioning as a nontraditional student.
Chef Franci was a beast when it came to her passions though. She did find it hard at times though, because she had to make sacrifices in order to put in the time into an industry that was completely new to her. The culinary and hospitality industry is very demanding and if one wants to be a half decent cook, it takes a lot of hard work. She had to learn to balance social life, academics, and mental breaks, but also represent the school in the American Culinary Federation Competitions.
She competed individually and with a team, where she would acquire around 10 medals that ranged from bronze to gold.
When Chef Franci graduated from college in May, she started working as a pastry chef in a restaurant. She was happy with her job, until Fox Valley Technical College reached out asking her to work there and help in the kitchen as instructional aid.
She felt she could have her passion of sharing her knowledge minus having to deal with the administrative components. Chef Franci then held two jobs straight out of college by helping at FVTC in the morning and then going right to work at the restaurant . This went on for 5 years.
Chef Franci pursued a different set of skills as an executive pastry chef. Here she learned more skills at a private country club working part time until she was offered a full time position. This is when she decided to leave FVTC.
Unfortunately in March 2020 the country club shut down due to the pandemic and Chef Franci was laid off. She started baking right at home and selling the pastries online to make a living.
However in fall of 2021 the teacher at Menasha High School left. Chris VanderHeyden, the superintendent of MJSD at the time, had ties with Fox Valley Tech. He reached out in the culinary department and asked if any chefs wanted to come and help out at the high school.
Chef Franci was told that she would be perfect for the job and was a little hesitant at first, but like always she gave it a try and ended up getting the job.
She was contracted for seven months to teach three days a week for dual credits and culinary arts. Later her contract was extended where Chef Franci would officially be the MHS chef.
Image from Franci Hencke
Students at MHS enjoy learning from Chef Franci. Students seem to enter Chef Franci's class and many find that they learn more than ever imagined.
“At first I just wanted to learn how to cook," said James Philippi, a senior at MHS. "That was what my mindset was like. Until it got a lot more advanced. Now I've stayed in the class because I learned so much and I think it can be a backup career for me.”
by Tito Fliehman
April 29, 2024
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