MEXICO — Deborah Nokes of Rumford has two major passions: cooking and teaching children.

This fall, she gets to mix those skills together with new curriculum ingredients for Region 9’s debut culinary arts program recipe.

Steeped in an Italian family heritage rich in cooking, Nokes was hired Wednesday evening — much to her surprise — by a unanimous vote followed by applause from the School of Applied Technology’s School Board. School Director Brenda Gammon recommended hiring Nokes.

“I wouldn’t have dreamed I’d be doing something like this,” Nokes, who turns 50 this weekend, said Thursday afternoon at the school. “I couldn’t be any happier. My feet still haven’t touched the ground since last night. I called my mom on the way home and she was ecstatic. She knows this is what I want to do, so I feel very blessed that I’m getting the opportunity to do it.”

Nokes has 14 years of experience cooking professionally and has worked the past four years as Region 9’s office administrator and cook. Whenever the school has functions, such as advisory board, National Technical Honor Society meetings or state woodsmen competitions, Nokes does all the meals with help from staff.

“The staff here is amazing,” the Swampscott, Mass., native said. “They are always, always helping.”

She cooks for 200 people for the society meetings. For last month’s state woodsmen meet, she prepared and cooked 500 meals — five different meals for 100 people. She also prepares lunches like specialty salads or dinners for meetings with superintendents and guidance officials.

“I do love it; it’s my passion,” Nokes said. “My grandmother, Vera (Mangini) Harrington, was a huge influence in me, and my whole family. They’re cooks — big Italian family.”

She got into cooking early.

“As a young girl, I was always pulled up to my grandmother’s counter top,” she said. “That’s where I wanted to spend my time, and I know it sounds corny, but food is love. That’s how I show people I care for them.

“If you come to my house, I feed you. It’s my way of connecting with people and I love working with the kids. I love the connection. I love the fact about Region 9 that it is a small community, it’s very nurturing and the teachers and staff want these kids to succeed, and I see it every day. They go the extra mile and I want to be part of that.”

Previously, she cooked meals for more than 350 people for events at Holy Savior School in Rumford where her son, Stephen, was enrolled. He is now a sophomore at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford.

Additionally, Nokes ran a catering company called Great Thyme Catering from 2004 to 2008. Nokes and her husband, Richard, also own the Oxford Lanes Bowling Alley in Rumford, where she operated a restaurant kitchen from 2001 or 2002 to 2009. They moved to Rumford 19 years ago after they got married.

For the culinary arts curriculum, which is still being developed, Nokes said she’d like to teach recipe development and menu planning. She likened the curriculum to a baby.

“It’s going to be developed and we’re looking to other culinary programs in the career and technical education world to sort of help us,” she said.

Nokes said she will also visit other schools with culinary programs to get a look at their kitchens.

“We want to make sure that we’re looking forward, like five years or more, to make sure we have room to grow,” she said.

As of Thursday, nine students had signed up for the culinary arts course, which is a two-year program for sophomores through seniors. Nokes said they expect to gain more students through the summer as word gets out that it’s actually a real course.

Students taking it will become ServSafe certified at no cost through the school. Anyone who works in a kitchen in Maine needs that certification.

“That means they know safe food handling, the right temperatures to wash dishes, the window where food is safe, proper hygiene and stuff like that,” she said.

The course is going to include the basics, she said.

“Students will learn about nutrition, meal planning, sanitation and understanding the fundamentals of cooking theory,” she said.

“What I hope to implement is basically why things happen…like why a steak browns, and you can apply that to so many things,” she said. “The second year (2016-17), I’m going to get more into pastry and recipe development and the fundamentals and just bringing them to the next step, like hosting different things that we can cater with our students.”

Nokes said she believes her students will gain confidence in what they are doing, even if they don’t get into culinary professions.

“Even if they don’t go into the culinary world, they’re going to be able to feed themselves and their families and have a better grasp of not opening a package of ramen (noodles),” Nokes said. “That’s really big.

“And I want them to understand about different fields, such as a food scientist, a food stylist, a wedding planner, a baker, a pastry chef — and the pay for a lot of these is quite good.”

Nokes also wants to create a culinary arts advisory board consisting of community members who are in the food industry, such as restaurants or food distributors.

“We might be right in Mexico here, but our kids come from all over,” she said. “We’ve got kids from Buckfield, from Bethel, from Jay, so I’d like to reach out.

“I love the idea of advisory boards. They know what the needs are, because they are in (that profession). They can help me plan my curriculum so that I can make sure I’m sending the kids out into the world with the information they need.”

tkarkos@sunmediagroup.net