Wisconsin is home to thousands of food and beverage companies. There are a vast amount of career opportunities.
You could call Thalia Rivera a foodie.
Something is always baking in the oven or simmering on the stove at her house. She has taken all three cooking courses offered at Nathan Hale High School in West Allis.
“I love those classes,” she said.
It was in her latest cooking class that she heard about and signed up for Farm-Factory-Fork Career Discovery, an annual event sponsored by the Food and Beverage (FaB) Wisconsin to make high school students aware of the abundant educational and career opportunities in the food and beverage industry.
On Wednesday, October 16, Rivera was one of 150 students from nine area high schools who attended the event, which was held at Milwaukee Area Technical College’s Downtown Milwaukee Campus for the first time in the event’s 10-year history.
The students heard from career experts, conducted food science experiments in MATC’s chemistry laboratories, and met representatives from two dozen companies and employers connected to the industry, including General Mills, A Goodman’s Desserts, Palermo’s Pizza and Sargento Foods.
Rivera listened keenly at the Sargento table as a representative described the food science careers available there.
“Doing something with food is definitely an option,” said Rivera, a senior at Nathan Hale. “I definitely want to go to college after high school, and it’s pretty likely I’ll come to MATC.”
See more photos from the event
MATC offers a whole menu of programs related to the food and beverage industry. Students can earn associate degrees in Food Science Technology, Culinary Arts, Baking and Pastry Arts, and Hospitality Management, or a technical diploma as a Food Service Assistant.
Food Science Technology applies the principles of chemistry and biology to ensure food products are safe and meet quality standards, and to create innovative ways to produce, package, preserve and distribute foods.
“Some of you might know exactly what you want to do, and maybe you don’t,” MATC President Anthony Cruz, Ed.D., told the students at the start of the event. “Here you might see something new, something you never thought about before that will pique your interest.”
In high school, Marie Colmerauer, an MATC food science instructor, loved chemistry and math. She also worked at a Culver’s restaurant and a Cousins sub shop. After college she worked at Kraft Foods, perfecting the shape of pasta for macaroni and cheese, and at Sargento Foods.
“I loved science and I loved food and wanted to find a way to combine all of it,” she said. “Maybe you hear some of your story in my story.”
Careers in the food and beverage industry are largely recession-proof, and as was recently discovered, pandemic-proof, said Gina Balke, executive director of FaB Wisconsin.
“These jobs were deemed essential,” she said. “Wisconsin is home to thousands of food and beverage companies. There are a vast amount of career opportunities.”
According to FaB, getting skilled professionals into the industry is vital because millions of people are retiring from the workforce and the world’s population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050.
MATC has great partnerships with employers in the food and beverage industry, Dr. Cruz said. Those companies help shape MATC’s courses to ensure the college teaches exactly what employers need, he said. “We make sure that we’re aligned,” he said. “That’s the great part of being at a technical college.”
Farm-Factory-Fork has been held almost every year since 2014. Mount Mary University, Lakeland University, Concordia University of Wisconsin and at Milwaukee Public Schools’ Vincent High School have served as hosts.
This year at MATC, the event attracted students from Germantown, Greendale, Hartford Union, Kettle Moraine Lutheran, Nathan Hale, Plymouth, Random Lake, Tenor and Vincent high schools.
MATC has been a partner with the FaB Wisconsin since it was formed, said Trisha Stehr, manager of client services for the college’s Workforce Solutions team, which helped organize the event. FaB officials also sit on the college’s Food Science Technology Advisory Committee, she said.
Learn about MATC’s Food Science Technology program
About MATC: As Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
