WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Culinary students at the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport are preparing for one of the biggest sporting events of the year. They're taking their cooking skills from the kitchen to the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby.
"We have a couple things that we have planned to go down and do, Chef Charles and I have. But we basically go down, we file in, and they tell us where we need to be and what we need to be doing every day," said Mike Dinan, the executive chef of Penn College's Le Jeune Chef restaurant.
Student chefs will be catering in the hospitality and premium suites at the Kentucky Derby during the first week of May.
Dinan says this is a great learning experience for the students.
"They bring in pallets of food at a time, so we're working off a pallet at a time. Once we're halfway through that, they'll bring in another pallet. It's a lot of food, but it's a lot of fun too. It's a great opportunity for students to see another side of the industry," Dinan said.
"It's a lot of work, so prepping all of that food for them to taste, it takes all day, and by the end of it, you're exhausted, but you get up and do it again," said student chef Autumn Stanley.
More than 20 students are attending the Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. This is Autumn Stanley's second time attending the Derby.
"It's the biggest opportunity that we have, the biggest opportunity to go to. This is 150 this year, so it's pretty exciting to go for 150. It's going to be bigger than 149, of course," Stanley said.
"It's a huge catering event, so I've had classes in it, but for something so large with so many people going, it's a big experience for us to really learn along with top chefs that are going to be going there as well. So we're going to be under them as well, and we're going to learn a lot from them," said Nicholas Matz.
Students at Penn College have been traveling to Churchill Downs for the Derby for more than 30 years.
"It's a great opportunity for our students, for our professional staff, for our chefs to go down to network, to see a different side of the industry, and to come back with some contacts and future internships and future job opportunities for our students," Dinan added.
The students will leave for the Kentucky Derby on Monday, April 29, and cater through Saturday, May 4.