Beloved Dublin High Culinary Instructor Retires

DUBLIN, CA — Jackie Lawson’s classes at Dublin High School were a chef’s kiss of a program.

In just 12 years of teaching, the former sales and marketing executive turned a few culinary classes into a powerhouse student catering program that has grossed a total of $750,000 for the schools. She retired at the end of this year.

“The students never cease to amaze me. They always live up to my expectations. Young kids like food. They’re foodies. Everybody thinks they just want junk food - they don’t. They actually want really good food, and really diverse food,” Lawson told Patch.

Lawson has been cooking her whole life - something she attributes to being half-Italian and well-traveled - but she didn’t work in either the food industry or education until 2009. She was a sales and marketing manager for Johnson & Johnson, but wanted a career that would allow her to spend more time with her children. She took a job as a long-term substitute for a culinary arts teacher at Dublin High School, and quickly proved her mettle. After she got her teaching credential, she began teaching full-time.

She started teaching the three basic culinary classes DHS had at the time. Meanwhile, the school was expanding and building two new culinary classrooms, including a small commercial kitchen.

“My principal at the time wanted to expand the program and she said, ‘What else can we do?’ and I said, ‘We need money, so I’m going to start a catering program,” Lawson said. “I quickly realized catering could make all kinds of money, and before I knew it just snowballed.”

Soon, local businesses, the City of Dublin, the Chamber of Commerce, and the school were all asking for students to cater their events. In the invitation-only program, experienced students put together menus, determine prices, buy groceries, manage money, and prepare and serve the food.

“I basically tell them it’s like a job and I’m the manager,” Lawson said. “We’re a nonprofit, and all the money goes right back into our program.” The lucrative program has also been able to offer $8,000 to 10,000 in scholarships to culinary students at the end of each year, according to DUSD spokesperson Chip Dehnert.

Last year, about 1600 students tried to get into a culinary class, Lawson said. Due to surging demand, two more teachers and more classes have been added. Last year, Lawson taught catering, Baking and Pastries, and International Cuisine — a personal favorite of Lawson’s where each student spends a week teaching people about a cuisine related to their personal ethnicity.

In addition to learning how to cook just about everything and work in a restaurant, graduating seniors also earn college credit with Diablo Valley College and a food handling certification. Students in honors catering can also earn a GPA grade bump at UC schools.

“They basically walk in and show their food handlers, say they’ve been in a program like mine, and they’re pretty much hired on the spot,” Lawson said. “It’s pretty much every restaurant in the Tri-Valley.” She also brings in as many local chefs as she can to do demonstrations for students.

Now that she’s retiring, she plans to “do what she wants, when she wants” and spend time puttering around her kitchen. In the meantime, the school is still in the process of hiring a successor, whom Lawson hopes will expand the program even further.

“I want somebody else to take it with new ideas, bright ideas, run with it like I did,” she said. “That’s my hope, that’s my dream, that’s my goal.”