Though the website for Yavapai College’s Southwest Wine Center has been updated with closure and cancellation notices of late, remnants of the wine center B.C. — before coronavirus — remain, including an idyllic background photo of the Clarkdale campus nestled among grape vines and wildflowers, with a dramatic purple sunset hovering over Mingus Mountain.
A promotional video, too, expresses the views of a former wine student who got to experience crushing grapes in his hands and smelling the aroma of freshly barreled vino before the center was forced to close its doors to students, along with the rest of the Yavapai College campuses, after spring break on March 16.
“Instead of taking something online, I actually get to immerse myself into the program and learn firsthand how to do the mechanics of running a vineyard and working in a winery,” the student quipped.
The center’s Viticulture and Enology Director Michael Pierce said there is no reason the center’s teachers, including him, aren’t able to deliver the same rich content they always have virtually. Teachers had a head start, as they were already accommodating over 100 students a semester who took the majority of the wine classes online from Phoenix or Northern Arizona.
“Most important is the education and we’re still able to deliver the same quality outcomes and do the same activities, we’re just kind of bound within this new online framework,” Pierce said. “I do what’s called WebLIVE, which means we happen to still meet at the same time [as we did] in person.”
WebLIVE relies on Zoom software to broadcast the live classes. Pierce speaks to the students in his enology [winemaking] class via a smartphone on a selfie stick, while another camera focuses on the lab equipment or wine barrel that he is talking about. Pierce can see all his students on camera from his laptop, and they are able to ask questions and pitch in. With WebLIVE, the instructor can even create different groups so students can participate in group work or discussions.
“It doesn’t feel the same, but it’s important that we keep going,” Pierce said. “Especially right now, we’re able to create stability to move forward.”
While Yavapai College’s younger students may pick up on the new technology quickly, Pierce said the average age of students at the wine center is 48, and there has been a bit of a learning curve, but one he deems necessary.
“The students needed to learn how to use Zoom [after being] used to a more traditional environment,” he said. “We’re all learning new technology that’s going to be used in the future. [The closure] is forcing us to learn this new online environment.”
Pierce also noted that the IT department at Yavapai College, which before primarily helped teachers with their technology or students using the school-wide Canvas Learning Platform, have been a great resource for those learning Zoom and other unfamiliar software.
Though Pierce said nearly all aspects of the classes can be replicated online, he and the other staff are especially feeling the struggle of manning the 12.95-acre estate vineyard on their own.
“It’s much easier to do with the students, and it’s a good learning environment because the students can ask questions,” Pierce said.
Yavapai College made the decision to transition all of its classes online for the summer semester, which starts June 1, and is yet to make a decision about its fall semester, which goes from Aug. 17 to Dec. 11.
“We definitely miss the students and we’re looking forward to having them back,” Pierce said. Likewise, he added that the students probably feel similarly. “I would say they are kind of disappointed. They’re ready to come back into the vineyard and into the winery.”
Sedona Center Campus
Meanwhile, two new state-of-the-industry teaching kitchens remain void of Culinary Art students at Yavapai College’s Sedona Center campus.
Robert Barr, program director and former personal chef to the likes of country singer Reba McEntire and legendary pianist Ray Charles, gave insight on how the classes have transformed after pandemic precautions.
“It is a pleasure to be able to inform others on, ‘how do you teach Culinary Arts online and make it better than just turning on the Food Channel?’” Barr wrote in an email. “And how does the Sedona Culinary Institute continue the process of achieving student culinary outcomes and objectives?”
It’s not as hard as it might seem, he shared.
“I start out the semester, virus or no virus, asking the question to the students, ‘How do we learn?’” he wrote. “I do receive many different ideas, but the correct answer is: ‘Through practice, observations and most of all … love of the craft.’”
The students’ love of cooking is what Barr said makes them willing to go out of their comfort zone, away from their on-campus kitchen.
“Our Culinary Arts students, especially at the Sedona Culinary Institute, are well focused and determined to get it right,” he wrote. “They will do whatever it takes to make sure what they are doing is also state-of-the-industry.”
Whatever it takes means students utilize their own home kitchens as best they can and do online work like textbook reading, PowerPoint presentations and video demos.
“We ask for a form to be filled out, ‘Cooking From Home,’ explaining the recipe, procedures, pictures and reviews from each item they have created,” Barr said of the several recipes or formulas they need to create each week. “If I can say so myself, the work has been impressive. I am sure, too, that the family and friends are appreciating this process for now, [getting to] experience the foods firsthand.”
A few students, Barr noted, didn’t have access to real kitchens to work out of for the hands-on work when the college closed, but Barr was able to come up with a solution thanks to generous area restaurateurs.
“I have found some of our Culinary Advisory Committee members, industry restaurants in the area, that have opened their kitchens to allow a student to come in and work on the recipes, or even baking, [that] they couldn’t do at home,” he said, adding that the restaurants are still following all the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Likewise, Barr cleaned out the culinary school’s refrigerators to supply students with essentials if they weren’t able to purchase them on their own. He also said the college has been working to get laptops and internet hotspots to students who didn’t already have them available at their homes.
“We were and have been prepared for this type of action, and if we weren’t, Yavapai College stepped up immediately to show that the students come first … even during this pandemic turmoil happening now,” Barr said.
Alexandra Wittenberg can be reached at 282-7795 ext 126 or at awittenberg@larsonnewspapers.com
