BY CASSIDEY KAVATHAS, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
David Hoelscher, a senior environmental studies major, awoke around 3 a.m. one early March morning due to the violent ringing of a fire alarm — a common occurrence in the Garden Apartments last semester, according to Hoelscher. As he lazily shuffled his shoes on with a blanket over his head, Hoelscher heard a shout come from the hall.
“Guys, it’s real!” yelled another student.
Hoelscher opened his apartment door to a smoke-filled hallway and a fire in the kitchen of the apartment across from his.
The fire’s cause: a student’s attempt to cook.
According to Bonaventure’s head of Safety and Security, Gary Segrue, 90% of fire-alarm-related incidents in campus residence halls are caused by cooking. So far in the calendar year 2023, there was one fire and 81 non-fires. In 2022, there were 0 actual fires and 109 non-fires. In 2021, there were 0 actual fires and 118 non-fires.
“On the St. Bonaventure University campus, the majority of non-fires are smoke from cooking — burnt popcorn in a microwave is an example,” said Segrue. “Other causes are smoke from marihuana or cigarette use, humidifiers, hair spray, steam from showers or dust in a detector head. Very seldom is the fire alarm due to faulty equipment.”
On Tuesday, the Hickey Dining Hall and Aramark, Bonaventure’s food-services provider, hosted the first ever Kitchen-101. The class is a step-by-step cooking demonstration led by Aramark chefs who work in the Hickey.
“Our objective is to engage members of the campus community while teaching them valuable life skills they can use long after they graduate,” said Nicole Clark, Aramark general manager.
The first class featured guacamole as the demonstration. Five students followed instructions from Hickey executive chef, Andrew Kritz. Kritz showed off his skills with an avocado tool and a knife, visiting each workstation to give personalized instruction.
“I learned a new strategy for cutting onions,” said Patrick Orth, a senior finance and accounting double major. “He [Kritz] told me to cut it into horizontal slices first and then to dice it. It worked better than what I did before.”
Clark hopes that Kitchen-101 can be offered to students at least once a month. The recipe for the next class has not been decided yet.
“I hope to learn more recipes, even if it’s something simple,” said Anani Lafountaine, a freshman health science major. “I’d like to see next maybe some tacos or pizza.”
The class can build confidence in beginner level cooks such as college-age adults.
“I hope to learn recipes that I would never have felt ambitious enough to try on my own,” said Orth.
kavathcj20@bonaventure.edu
