On the MAC Track
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Christy Arnett’s original career goal was to work in the psychology field. However, like many adults, she meandered from her original plan and found career satisfaction in an unrelated field. In the fall of 1988, Christy enrolled at Mineral Area College and graduated in 1990 with an associate of arts degree. She transferred to the University of Missouri-Columbia and graduated with a BES in Educational and Counseling Psychology degree December of 1992.
Now, Christy has returned to Mineral Area College and UniTec Career Center for training for her new career. Currently, she is enrolled in UniTec’s Culinary Arts program. Christy explains how she became interested in the restaurant business, “Since MAC, I’ve had a variety of employment experiences because I relocated several times after graduating from Mizzou. I’ve been back in Park Hills for a little more than two years. I worked as a personal assistant in Phoenix, Arizona until my employer passed away. Then, I found myself back in the restaurant business. Later, when living in Dallas, I was fortunate to find a rewarding work environment at Celebration Restaurant. While there, I learned more about catering and became the manager for the Celebration Market. Food can be very comforting and sometimes you come across a restaurant that becomes a second family to you. And, that’s happened for me at the Cowgirl Café in Bismarck. I am very grateful to be so lucky to have found a family with the Cowgirl Cafe.”
“My motivation for returning to school is to enhance my current knowledge of food and restaurant management. I’ve always worked in the ‘front of the house’ as a hostess, waitress, manager and ultimately as general manager. I really wanted to know more about food preparation . . . the knowledge, hard work and creativity that go into it,” Christy adds. “UniTec is influencing my life by increasing my book knowledge about food. Furthermore, the instructor of the Culinary Arts program, Kathy Holdman, has really allowed me to showcase my talents this year. She lets me create menus and take full charge of the kitchen on the days when I lead my class in preparing meals for the UniTec teachers. The UniTec teachers have provided great positive reinforcement for what I am doing. They make me feel proud of the food I am putting out. I know I’m getting valuable experience that will help me immensely.”
Christy dovetails her school work with two jobs. She works with the event catering team at PRI Custom Catering in Farmington as well as Cowgirl Café & Catering in Bismarck. Cowgirl Café owner Dina Miller opened her business in 2005. The customer base has grown steadily as has the catering side of the business. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner five days per week. Cowgirl Café offers a full menu starting with breakfast selections as biscuits and gravy, pancakes or French toast. Lunch and dinner menus offer a variety of choices. Appetizer selections range from Buffalo Gal Wings to Buzzard Strips. Try the mixed green or southwest BBQ salad. Sandwich selections are many including Cowgirl burgers, beef dips and turkey melts. The Off the Grill section features rib eye steaks, pork chops, chicken and other down home cooked entrees. A children’s menu is also available. Save room for mouthwatering desserts, especially the gooey butter cake, fried cheesecake and blackberry cobbler. For additional menu information and a sneak peak at some special occasion cakes, visit www.cowgirl-café.net.
“For the Cowgirl, I waitress, cater events, and decorate cakes . . . do a little bit of everything as needed,” explains Christy. “In February, the Cowgirl hosted a local 4-H group and I taught them how to decorate cookies. It was fun for the kids as well as for me. I’m so very glad I’m enjoying what I do everyday. Now, I’m truly happy I moved around and experienced so much culinary diversity. All those experiences have really paid dividends for m. I definitely enjoy working with bold flavors and I may not have had this experience had I not lived in the southwest.”
When she thinks about Mineral Area College, Christy says, “MAC influenced my life. While at MAC, Mrs. Scobee and Mrs. Miller were my mentors. Although I didn’t have them as classroom teachers, I was captain of the Pom-pon squad my second year at MAC. The pommie experience was also a great mentoring time for me. To this day, I really am appreciative of them and their support. Now, since I’m in a computer class, MAC gives me a sense of hometown pride. I never realized how much I learned and took from this area until I was gone. Distance makes the heart grow fonder and I am happy to be back.”
“Mineral Area College affects our local communities in such a positive way on so many levels,” continues Christy. “It can provide a terrific stepping stone for those who are going to transfer to a four-year university. MAC’s nursing program is famous among my father’s side of the family. So many nurses in our area graduated from MAC. I’ve had so many friends and family members--including my parents—who attended and graduated from MAC and found success in their lives. MAC’s a great place to start . . . and in my case, the perfect place to fine-tune my career as an adult student.”
For additional information about Mineral Area College, visit the college’s website at www.MineralArea.edu.
Ads by Yahoo!
Reader Comments (0)The comments below are from readers and do not represent the views of the Daily Journal
Search the archives
Most Commented News