Carson High student shares college wisdom

Jed Adair is a senior at Carson High School, but he is also a freshman at Johnson & Wales Culinary Institute in Rhode Island.

Adair is taking part in the Access program where high school seniors can attend college, completing their final year of high and their first year of college simultaneously.

As part of the college's curriculum, Adair has to serve at his high school for eight hours. He took advantage of Thanksgiving vacation to teach his former classmates the skills he's learned.

"He's so assured now," said his former culinary arts teacher Penny Reynolds. "His skills are precise."

He prepared voulette, a brown sauce made out of stock and bechamel, a white sauce with milk, braised onions and cloves.

As he flipped the vegetables out of the frying pan and caught them again, he explained how salt works to relax the fibers and bring out the flavor.

"I think he's doing a really good job," said student Erin Merritt, 17. "I've never seen sauce done this way before."

Jonie Domina, 16, said watching Adair's demonstration made her more eager to also attend Johnson & Wales.

"I love cooking," she said. "It's my life dream to be a chef."

Adair also inspired Joey Herzel, 17.

"It gives me an understanding of what they're teaching there," Herzel said. "I can really see how much he's learned in such a short time already."

Herzel plans to attend Johnson & Wales, Denver campus after graduation.

"They're a great school with a very strong culinary history," he said. "They are world renowned for culinary arts."

Adair said Reynolds prepared him well for the next step.

"She really goes over all the cooking methods," he said. "They expand on them back there but you really have a head start on things."

Adair, the son of Carson High principal Glen Adair, is one of 30 high school seniors in the program. He is the only one from Nevada. Most are from the East.

"It was kind of like culture shock at first," he said. "But I really like it a lot."

Carson High School students accepted to Johnson & Wales are:

Joey Hurzel, Justin Loncar, Jamie Dittenbur, Jonie Domina, Crystal Freeman, Desiree Whitlow and Jennifer Robinson.

Jessica Bray will enroll in the Access program next year.