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The 6th Street Eatery, located within North Dakota State College of Science’s Hektner Student Center, kicked off its 2024 season with a full house and an ample menu.

Italian fare, welcome at any trattoria and sure to make any guest eager to mangia, is being served from 5-7 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays through Tuesday, Feb. 27. Buffet nights will be held in late March. Reservations are strongly encouraged, as the 6th Street Eatery regularly reaches its limit for dine-in guests.

“We’ve put a ton of work into this,” Chef Kyle Armitage said to 14 NDSCS culinary arts students just before the Thursday, Jan. 18, opening night. “First years, thank you for being here. Keep your eyes open. You’re going to see and pick up on what is going to be your field next year.”

Armitage shared his pride in the second year culinary arts students, the ones who have advanced to a place of leadership with the 2024 6th Street Eatery. Alexander Tubbs, Deer Creek, Minnesota, was the opening night chef, preparing to be the specialties chef for Tuesday, Jan. 23.

“The first night’s the craziest night. I’m excited,” Tubbs said on Jan 18. “I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s specials and how people enjoy them. Italian food is just great to experience.”

Armitage and Chef Benjamin Whitmore are proud of how the students behind the 2024 6th Street Eatery have demonstrated their drive and focus on a vision.

“I always talk with them about the importance of tension in making some big decisions, and they’ve dealt with that tension in a really good way,” Armitage said.

Abby Schaefer, Minot, North Dakota, was the opening night hostess.

“It’s very interesting,” she said. “This is my first time being a hostess, and it’s exciting that I get to meet everyone.”

Besides specialties, the 6th Street Eatery’s menus includes entrees like chicken parmesan and beef steak tagliata, pasta dishes including cacio e peppe and sausage lasagna and specialty pizzas. There are also side dishes including butcher boards, bruschetta and a full dessert menu of treats including tiramisu, cannoli and the gelato of the week.

“This is some of the most fun that we students get to have,” Tubbs said. “We just want to serve you good food. Come out and enjoy.”

For more information, including the numbers for reservations and take out orders, visit the 6th Street Eatery’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

Article published by Frank Stanko at Wahpeton Daily News on January 22, 2024. 

NDSCS Culinary Arts students and faculty hosted the 3rd annual Scholarship Dinner on Thursday, March 9th. The annual Culinary Scholarship Dinner helps raise funds to support scholarship dollars for Culinary Arts students, increasing accessibility for students to attend this program at NDSCS. This dinner is also an excellent opportunity for students to help create and serve a multi-course fine dining experience for guests, teaching important on-the-job skills and benefiting their overall Culinary education. This year’s event brought in over $3500, which will be added to the growing program-specific endowments for student scholarships!

This 6-course dinner with wine pairings was prepared and served by culinary students, faculty, and program alumni. Chef Joseph Brunner, NDSCS alumnus and current Executive Chef at Mezzaluna in Fargo, created the entrée course for the scholarship dinner. Other guest chefs included Amber Pankonin from the Great Plains Culinary Institute; Brooke Thomas, NDSCS alumnus currently at Twin Town Villa; and Carly Beyer, NDSCS alumnus and Director of Dining Services at NDSCS.

Tickets were priced at $100 per person, and $80 of each ticket was a tax-deductible donation to the NDSCS Alumni Foundation Scholarship fund. Despite the less than ideal weather, the evening had a nearly full house. Guests enjoyed appetizers, soup, salad, fish, entrée, and dessert courses and wine pairings, along with great conversation and a relaxed atmosphere. After the event, Chef Kyle Armitage, the Culinary Arts program coordinator recalled, “The 2023 Scholarship Dinner was wonderful. This event is a great opportunity for our community, students, alumni, and friends to enjoy some great food and create a lasting impact on our future Culinary students.”

The Culinary Arts program would like to include a special thank you to donors to the event: The Boiler Room, Mezzaluna, Reinhart Foods, North Dakota Soy Bean Council, Martin Brothers Foods, and the NDSCS Alumni Foundation.

Four area businesses have donated essential baking ingredients to the NDSCS Culinary Arts department. These ingredients provide significant support for the department by supplying frequently-used ingredients for the program’s baking projects, while giving students the opportunity to bake using locally sourced products.

“We teach our students that great products can be found a short distance from your back door,” said NDSCS Culinary Arts Associate Professor Kyle Armitage. “This is a large movement happening in food service. The focus on using local products is great for the environment as well as the producers. Now our students have the opportunity to learn and practice with ingredients from right here in the Red River Valley.”

The donated products include:

• 2000 pounds of sugar from Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative of Wahpeton, N.D. This extra-fine sugar donation will provide for the department’s baking projects for approximately two years. Armitage noted the easy ability of this sugar to dissolve without over mixing.
• 20 gallons of corn syrup from Cargill of Wahpeton, N.D. This product will be used in baking units for the program, as well as by the student-led Chef’s Club, which will use the corn syrup in pecan pies for its annual pie sale.
• 50+ pounds of fresh baker’s yeast from Lallemand Inc. of Wahpeton, N.D. This contribution will supply all of the department’s yeast needs for the academic year. The yeast will be used for the program’s bread unit, and for any yeast doughs made for the 6^th Street Eatery in the spring.
• 300+ pounds of high protein bread flour from Ardent Mills in Fairmount, N.D. The flour is made from red spring wheat harvested in this region, and will be used for bread, sweet yeast doughs, pizza and pasta. This will supply the department’s bread flour needs for the year.

“We are so thankful for these generous donations of ingredients that we would typically need to purchase on a regular basis for our day-to-day program needs,” said Armitage. “We have wonderful support from our community. This fall, community members provided 800 pounds of apples for our students to use in baking projects. We hope to continue to grow and expand these partnerships to provide even more value for our students.”

The NDSCS Culinary Arts program provides students with a broad range of skills and experience that enables them to be employed in a variety of careers within the food service and hospitality industry. Additional information about the program can be found online at ndscs.edu/culinary.

By Tri-College University

There is no doubt that 2020 has presented challenges without precedent. Academic challenges, nimbleness and creativity have been at the forefront in higher education. The campus faculty and the students were dramatically affected by limited physical access to the campuses due to COVID-19. Faculty had to quickly and expertly switch from students in the seats and side by side in labs to a distance instructional model. This dramatic shift to essentially migrate to 100% online platforms in a period of generally only two weeks ignited the spirit of creativity and collaboration by dedicated faculty.

To honor and hold up faculty members who successfully transitioned from traditional in class instruction to alternative distance delivery options, Tri-College University has awarded Tri-College University Excellence in Innovation and Adaptive Education Awards.

Benjamin Whitmore from North Dakota State College of Science was selected for the award for his excellence, innovation, creativity and successful use of advanced technology in producing high quality education under the challenge of limited time allowed for successful transition to a fully distance delivery classroom as a result of the global pandemic.

“Education faculty were challenged with developing new delivery systems over a very short period to ensure quality instruction prevailed over the challenges presented by COVID-19 limitations. Educators performed this task with amazing results and ensured that students stayed on track to achieve their academic goals. Benjamin has the additional challenge in that this occurred during his first year of full-time instruction,” said Tri-College Provost Tim Flakoll.

These commendation awards will help highlight excellence, inspire creativity and fuel how we will deliver excellent instruction in the future.

Tri-College University partnered with Xcel Energy to provide five (5) awards, one at each of the partner campuses of Concordia College, MSUM, NDSU, M State and NDSCS. Award recipients received a plaque and cash award.

Tri-College University is a partnership who this year celebrates their 50^th anniversary. Their partner campuses represent approximately 35,000 full and part time students.

By Frank Stanko

Jared Wick knows the pressures of competing and setting the best example for his teammates. His playing field just happens to be the kitchen.

Wick, a second year at North Dakota State College of Science, was one of eight culinary arts students who led the school to seventh place at the 2017 Central Regional Culinary Salon Competition. Not only did he represent NDSCS, but North Dakota itself.

“Every knife cut, you want it to be good, just to justify your being captain. It’s a pressure, but it’s a good pressure,” he said. “It taught me to strive more, to work harder and to be a leader.”

Held by the American Culinary Federation from Friday, Feb. 3-Saturday, Feb. 4, the 2017 competition took place in Joliet, Illinois. Thanks to the event’s point system, NDSCS qualified as a bronze-level winner.

Read the full article online at wahpetondailynews.com.

Students from the North Dakota State College of Science received a number of awards at the North Dakota SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference, which was held in Bismarck this spring. By achieving gold medals at the state level, 14 of these students qualified to compete in their respective categories at the national SkillsUSA Championships, which will be held in Louisville, Ky. in June.

The NDSCS students who received gold, silver or bronze medals at the state competition include:

COLORADO
Evans: Jessica Starkey, Motorcycle Service Technology, Silver

MINNESOTA
Cottage Grove: Alex Johnson, Welding, Silver
Fergus Falls: Jared Christenson, Electrical Construction Wiring, Silver; Richard Grimm, Welding Fabrication, Gold; Mason Tell, Automotive Service Technology, Bronze; Jared Wick, Culinary Arts, Bronze
Frazee: Ryan Bade, Collision Repair Technology, Gold
Moorhead: Chantel Hamann, Power Equipment Technology, Gold
Sartell: Cole Moritz, Welding Fabrication, Silver
Spring Grove: Mitchell Anderson, Welding Fabrication, Gold
Wheaton: Brayden Lampe, Welding Fabrication, Gold

MONTANA
Sidney: Sean Lofthus, Welding Sculpture, Silver

NORTH DAKOTA
Argusville: Noah Trangsrud, Welding Fabrication, Silver
Bismarck: Tony DaSilva, Welding Sculpture, Bronze
Cando: Larry MacDonald, Automotive Service Technology, Silver
Des Lacs: Jonathan Fritel, CNC Technician, Gold
Dickinson: Shelby Kilwein, Diesel Equipment Technology, Bronze
Fargo: Joe Brunner, Culinary Arts, Gold; Chandler Rheault, Welding Sculpture, Gold
Grafton: Justin Simon, Welding, Gold
Jamestown: Kyle Schumacher, Automotive Service Technology, Gold
Lisbon: Cassie Witte, Culinary Arts, Silver
Marion: Greg Lahlum, Diesel Equipment Technology, Gold
New Rockford: Colten Schafer, Welding Fabrication, Silver
Rugby: Kurt Pfau, Diesel Equipment Technology, Silver
Strasburg: Trent Mattern, Motorcycle Service Technology, Gold
Valley City: Brandon Compson, CNC Turning Specialist, Gold
Williston: Ryan Hellen, Electrical Construction Wiring, Gold; Cullen Weigel, Electrical Construction Wiring, Bronze

SOUTH DAKOTA:
Herreid: Josh Orth, Motorcycle Service Technology, Bronze