Log out
My profile and settings
My bookmarks
Comment history
Please complete your account verification. Resend verification email.
today
This verification token has expired.
today
Your email address has been verified. Update my profile.
today
Your account has been deactivated. Sign in to re-activate your account.
today
View all newsletters in the newsletter archive
today
You are now unsubscribed from receiving emails.
today
Sorry, we were unable to unsubscribe you at this time.
today
0
0
Back to profile
Comment Items
You have not left any comments yet.
title
you replied to a comment:
name
description
Saved Posts
You haven’t bookmarked any posts yet.

Knowing how complex malaria is helps me appreciate how much progress the world has made in fighting it.

read more
Become a Gates Notes Insider
Sign up
Log out
Personal Information
Title
Mr
Mrs
Ms
Miss
Mx
Dr
Cancel
Save
This email is already registered
Cancel
Save
Please verify email address. Click verification link sent to this email address or resend verification email.
Cancel
Save
Email and Notification Settings
Send me updates from Bill Gates
You must provide an email
On
Off
Send me Gates Notes survey emails
On
Off
Send me the weekly Top of Mind newsletter
On
Off
Email me comment notifications
On
Off
On-screen comment notifications
On
Off
Interests
Select interests to personalize your profile and experience on Gates Notes.
Saving Lives
Energy Innovation
Improving Education
Alzheimer's
Philanthropy
Book Reviews
About Bill Gates
Account Deactivation
Click the link below to begin the account deactivation process.
If you would like to permanently delete your Gates Notes account and remove it’s content, please send us a request here.

Food for thought

How BBQ chicken can prepare you for life after high school

Robert Hand teaches his students how to take care of themselves after they graduate.

|
0

I never really learned how to cook. Other than scrambling eggs over a fire during Boy Scout camping trips, it just wasn’t something I was taught growing up. Because I never learned how to make a healthy meal for myself, I ended up eating a lot more fast food than I should’ve—especially when I was young and early in my career.

That’s not the case for Robert Hand’s students.

Robert works at Mount Vernon High School, which is about an hour north of Seattle. He teaches family and consumer science—what we would’ve called “home economics” when I was in school. In other words, he helps his students learn how to take care of themselves after high school, including how to make a nutritious and delicious homemade meal.

In just six years of teaching, Robert has had such a big impact on his school that he was named the 2019 Teacher of the Year for my home state of Washington. He was nice enough to visit my office earlier this year and show me how to make one of his students’ favorite dishes: barbecue chicken.

My lesson in butchering a whole chicken comes from Robert’s Beginning Foods class, which is open to every student at any grade level. I was surprised to learn that his cooking classes are some of the most popular at his school, but maybe I shouldn’t have been: the kids get to eat what they cook in class.

His students love the opportunity to make something by hand and enjoy the immediate results. Learning to cook not only gives kids a skill they’ll use the rest of their lives but can also help build confidence.

“There is a pride in having done it yourself,” Robert told me. “I see it in my kids when we do this: the pride that they have of knowing that they put the time and effort and work into this. [Cooking] is something that seemed intimidating or hard, but it’s really not that difficult to do.”

Although Beginning Foods probably would’ve been more beneficial to me, I was most interested to hear about Robert’s “Life After High School” class for seniors. Students learn practical life skills to prepare them to enter the real world, like how to write resumes and cover letters, put together a personal budget, and get a car loan.

Robert even sends them on a mock job interview (usually with another teacher at the school). Each student in the class has to dress professionally and create a portfolio to take with them. Afterwards, he helps them write and mail a thank you card to the person they met with, just like a real job interview. The whole process gets the kids comfortable with interviewing and sets them up for success.

The real secret sauce, though, is how much of himself Robert puts into the class. Every morning, he greets each person with a fist bump and a “How are you?” If students can’t afford to buy a new suit for a job interview, he takes them to a local thrift store and helps them find a professional outfit on a budget. Around 60% of the students at Mount Vernon High School come from low-income families, so he always keeps a pantry stocked with free food in case someone comes to school hungry.

He also talks to his students often about his own professional journey. When Robert was in high school, he had no idea he wanted to be a teacher. After graduating from college, he still didn’t know what exactly he wanted to do with his life. It was only after a few years of working other jobs—and a pivotal conversation with his wife—that Robert decided to become a teacher.

A lot of his students are in the same boat. They haven’t decided what they want to do after graduation, and Robert uses his own story to help them feel okay about that. “There’s a lot of pressure right now to figure out early on what are you going to do,” he says. “We don’t always know, so the best we can do is prepare kids for every aspect of life and what the next steps are.”

Some of his students do know what they want to be when they grow up, though. And for the ones who want to become teachers, Robert is there to help. He leads the school’s teacher prep program.

It’s just one way that he’s advancing one of his personal goals: to help diversify education in Washington. The student body at his school is majority non-white, and Robert hopes that one day its teacher workforce looks less like him and more like the kids they’re teaching.

The students at Mount Vernon High School are lucky to have a teacher as passionate, engaging, and creative as Robert. It takes a special kind of educator to get kids excited about filing their taxes! The skills he teaches are essential for any student, whether they plan on going to college, vocational school, or straight into the workforce. If we want to give our kids the best chance possible to succeed after high school, we need more amazing teachers like Robert.

Discussion
Thank you for being part of the Gates Notes Insider community.
Not seeing your comment? You can read our policy on moderating comments here and learn about our Gates Notes badges here.
Badge
📌
Pinned by
Gates Notes
Badge
ʼʼ
0 responses
Sort by
all
all
most
top
old
Comments loading...
CTW
Thanks for visiting the Gates Notes. We'd like your feedback.
Become a Gates Notes Insider
Join the Gates Notes community to access exclusive content, comment on stories, participate in giveaways, and more.
SIGN UP
Already have an account?
Log in here
Logout:


Become a Gates Notes Insider
Become a Gates Notes Insider
Join the Gates Notes community to get regular updates from Bill on key topics like global health and climate change, to access exclusive content, comment on stories, participate in giveaways, and more.
Already joined? Log in
Please send me updates from Breakthrough Energy on efforts to combat climate change.
On
Off
LOG IN
SIGN UP
Title
Mr
Mrs
Ms
Miss
Mx
Dr
This email is already registered. Enter a new email, try signing in or retrieve your password
Why are we collecting this information? Gates Notes may send a welcome note or other exclusive Insider mail from time to time. Additionally, some campaigns and content may only be available to users in certain areas. Gates Notes will never share and distribute your information with external parties.
Bill may send you a welcome note or other exclusive Insider mail from time to time. We will never share your information.
Sign up
We will never share or spam your email address. For more information see our Sign Up FAQ. By clicking "Sign Up" you agree to the Gates Notes Terms of Use / Privacy Policy.
Street address
City
postal_town
State Zip code
administrative_area_level_2
Country
Data
Gates Notes Insider Sign Up FAQ

Q. How do I create a Gates Notes account?

A. There are three ways you can create a Gates Notes account:

  • Sign up with Facebook. We’ll never post to your Facebook account without your permission.
  • Sign up with Twitter. We’ll never post to your Twitter account without your permission.
  • Sign up with your email. Enter your email address during sign up. We’ll email you a link for verification.

Q. Will you ever post to my Facebook or Twitter accounts without my permission?

A. No, never.

Q. How do I sign up to receive email communications from my Gates Notes account?

A. In Account Settings, click the toggle switch next to “Send me updates from Bill Gates.”

Q. How will you use the Interests I select in Account Settings?

A. We will use them to choose the Suggested Reads that appear on your profile page.

BACK
Forgot your password?
Enter the email you used to sign up and a reset password link will be sent to you.
This email is already registered. Enter a new email, try signing in or retrieve your password
Reset Password
Reset your password.
Set New Password
Your password has been reset. Please continue to the log in page.
Log in
Get emails from Bill Gates
Send me updates from Bill Gates
You must provide an email
On
Off
Email me comment notifications
On
Off
On-screen comment notifications
On
Off
This email is already registered
Finish
We will never share or spam your email address. For more information see our Sign up FAQ. By clicking "Continue" you agree to the Gates Notes Terms of Use / Privacy Policy.
You're in!
You're in!
Please check your email and click the link provided to verify your account.
Didn't get an email from us? Resend verification
Upload a profile picture
Choose image to upload
Uploading...
Uh Oh!
The image you are trying to upload is either too big or is an unacceptable format. Please upload a .jpg or .png image that is under 25MB.
Ok
Title
Mr
Mrs
Ms
Miss
Mx
Dr
Cancel
Save
This email is already registered
Cancel
Save
Please verify email address. Click verification link sent to this email address or resend verification email.
Email and notification settings
Send me updates from Bill Gates
You must provide an email
On
Off
Email me comment notifications
On
Off
On-screen comment notifications
On
Off
Select your interests
Saving Lives
Energy Innovation
Improving Education
Alzheimer's
Philanthropy
Book Reviews
About Bill Gates
Finish
Confirm Account Deactivation
Are you sure you want to deactivate your account?
Deactivating your account will unsubscribe you from Gates Notes emails, and will remove your profile and account information from public view on the Gates Notes. Please allow for 24 hours for the deactivation to fully process. You can sign back in at any time to reactivate your account and restore its content.
Deactivate My Acccount
Go Back
Your Gates Notes account has been deactivated.
Come back anytime.
Welcome back
In order to unsubscribe you will need to sign-in to your Gates Notes Insider account
Once signed in just go to your Account Settings page and set your subscription options as desired.
Sign In
Request account deletion
We’re sorry to see you go. Your request may take a few days to process; we want to double check things before hitting the big red button. Requesting an account deletion will permanently remove all of your profile content. If you’ve changed your mind about deleting your account, you can always hit cancel and deactivate instead.
Submit
Cancel
Thank You! Your request has been sent
Page https://www.gatesnotes.com:443/Meeting-Indias-New-Prime-Minister?WT.mc_id=10_03_2014_IndiaTrip_fb&WT.tsrc=Facebook secs = 0.0312512