I attended Hinds Community College where Chef Sally Porter was my Culinary Arts Instructor.
Chef Porter nurtured my passion and quieted my fears. In the classroom and lab, the ideas and opinions of me and my classmates were always valued by Chef Porter. We felt safe to express our feelings and learned to respect and listen to each other because Chef Porter showed us so much respect. She created a learning environment that was welcoming to all her students (previous and current students).
The mutual respect in Chef Porter’s classroom/lab provided us with a supportive, collaborative environment. We became a “culinary family,” that we referred to as “fam.” In our fam, there were rules to follow and jobs to be done and each one of us students were aware of how important we were and the integral roles we had in the fam’s success. Chef Porter let us know that we could not only depend on her, but also on our entire class. We all had each other’s backs. Chef Porter is a great teacher that created a sense of community, family, and belonging in the classroom/lab.
Chef Porter was so approachable, not only to us students, but to everyone on campus. Chef Porter was a compassionate teacher to whom students knew that they could go to with any problems or concerns (the good, the bad, and the ugly). Chef Porter is an amazing teacher that possessed exceptionally good listening skills and she took time out of her super busy schedule for anyone who needed her. If Chef Porter was having a bad day, no one ever knew it because she never complained. Chef Porter was a warm teacher that was always accessible, enthusiastic and caring.
Chef Porter realized that what she expected from us students affected our achievement level in life. She gave us her all, and she expected that we give her our best effort in return. Chef Porter is a wonderful teacher because she sets high expectations for all of us students.
Chef Porter is a cornucopia of professional knowledge. Chef Porter had this burning desire to provide us students with the highest quality of educational information as possible. She taught us to not be afraid of experiencing new tastes and textures as well as incorporating foreign and domestic cooking techniques to be successful chefs. Chef Porter was always willing to share her knowledge with everyone. Chef Porter is an excellent teacher because she has such a passionate love of learning that inspired us students to be educated with more than just the course material with field trips to restaurants, grocery stores, and vendor warehouses.
Chef Porter was such an effective teacher because she emphasized shared decision making and teamwork. She conveyed an enormous sense of leadership to us students by giving us chances to assume leadership roles like being kitchen managers and assistant managers. Chef Porter is the very best because she is a skilled leader.
Chef Porter was constantly assessing her teaching throughout the lessons and always asked us students our opinion on ways to improve her teaching methods to help us learn better. She wanted to find new or better ways to present material to us to make sure that we all really understood what we were reading and what we were doing. Chef Porter is an awesome teacher because she could switch gears and was so flexible when a lesson wasn’t working for us or we were having difficulty grasping the concept(s).
Chef Porter’s communication skills were extraordinary. We had a powerful respect for Chef Porter because of her professionalism. Chef Porter is a fabulous teacher because she maintained a professional manner in all areas, from her personal appearance, her organizational skills and her attention to detail.
Teaching is a gift that seems to be quite natural for Chef Porter. It is because of those many qualities in which Chef Porter has that makes her more to me than just my teacher, she was also an architect that created that solid foundation for my successful life’s journey in Culinary Arts. She worked tirelessly to inspire me, and my classmates, to perform to a very high level. She showed us everything we needed to know about Culinary Arts. I look up to Chef Porter as a role model. She is the embodiment of everything I aspire to be when I become a Culinary Arts teacher. Her love for us students showed in everything she said and did. Chef Porter is truly such an incredible person that I feel blessed to have learned from and the memories I have made in her class/lab are ones that have left an indelible mark forever in my heart. I Love You Chef Porter Always and Forever.
