FUHSD's Koch receives Calif. ACTE Teacher of Year honor

Fallbrook Union High School (FUHS) is working hard to provide the highest quality education possible for its students, and the hard work is being noticed statewide. Recently, Fallbrook High’s CTE restaurant and hospitality careers instructor Larry Koch was honored by the California Association for Career & Technical Education (ACTE) as the ACTE Teacher of the Year.

Koch received the ACTE Teacher of the Year award for providing an outstanding career and technical program. He is noted for having made significant contributions toward innovative, unique, and novel programs that improve or promote career and technical education. Indeed, Fallbrook High’s culinary and hospitality program is the only one in the county that has a restaurant that serves the community as well as the high school staff as part of the educational process.

"[Koch] is an extraordinary teacher," said FUHS principal Larry Boone. "His students are always engaged because they know he teaches from the heart. He doesn’t have their grades in mind; he wants his students to be a success."

Koch stated that he was honored to receive the award, but the focus during his 20 years as an educator at FUHS has been to insure his students leave his classroom prepared to enter the workforce. Coming from a career working in restaurant management, Koch knows the skills his students will need to become successful.

"I use cooking as a tool to teach other things, like work experience. This is not just a culinary arts program," said Koch. "I teach students how to work every day, and go get a job."

As a part of the learning process, students in the restaurant and hospitality program learn how to write a resume and cover letter. Students in this year’s class will even be required to go through an exit interview as part of their final.

"I hear from past students that this is the greatest gift they could receive," said Koch. "They are able to get more jobs from here because they know how to interview and they know how to put themselves on paper. They learn how to be presentable, and I have them practice their interview questions."

Because Koch lives in Fallbrook, he is able to see former students working around town, and is proud to see some head off to college.

"I love seeing them be successful," said Koch, who sometimes receives students who have never cooked before. "I let them go cold turkey, but I start them easy with food safety and food handling."

Students can earn and purchase their food handlers card through the program, but the preparation only starts with food handling.

"The restaurant business is a huge one," said Koch. "We have students learn soft skills, where they work with customers, and put everything together for a full-service restaurant. Others learn managerial skills where they get involved with ordering food."

As a way to put use to the skills learned into practice, Koch’s program allows the students to work in the Warrior Grille, which serves dinner to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:45 to 6 p.m. Four days a week, the school staff is able to enjoy meals including homemade cinnamon rolls, chicken parmesan, and calamari.

"A good portion of restaurant and hospitality is customer service. Once students learn the skills needed for restaurant and hospitality, they can work anywhere," said Koch. "They learn about teamwork and collaboration, and can work on their feet. They learn how to work without being told what to do at every step because no boss will do that. Once they learn these skills, they will always have them, and they can always fall back on them if they need to."

"Koch’s program is fantastic," said Boone. "We are proud that Fallbrook’s students are able to benefit from his program. We are lucky to be able to offer this in high school, and we are extremely proud of all our CTE programs."

Koch will be presented the ACTE Teacher of the Year award in March.