I sat down with the beautiful Romannie Smith (12) to talk to her about her passion of cooking and other interests of hers. She is greatly involved in the culinary arts program at George Ranch and hopes to continue down a similar path in the future. Romannie is also a wonderful friend and person, she is free spirited and fun loving, it’s hard for anyone not to be friends with her because she is so funny and nice to everyone.

The Wrangler: Tell me about yourself.

Smith: I am very unsure of myself. I do doubt myself a lot, but, I think that’s everyone.

The Wrangler: What do you like about culinary arts, and why do you like it particularly at George Ranch?

Smith: I have been cooking since I was nine. With my parents having busy jobs and all, it was always just me and my brother at home so someone had to cook and pretty much ever since then I fell in love with it. How people are one with themselves while online shopping or something that is how I am with cooking. It’s so much fun, you can be creative and you don’t have to follow a recipe. You can just throw stuff together and see what you get out of it. At George Ranch, I think the culinary arts program is really cool and not a lot of schools offer an opportunity like this to their students either. I like that we compete, and Mrs. Waumsley is very versatile and lenient and she allows us to bring our own ideas to the table. I also really like that every Friday we set up the café for the teachers to give a feel for what it is like to be a waiter in a restaurant or a sous chef in a restaurant.

The Wrangler: Do you enjoy cooking for the school? 

Smith: Yeah, I really enjoy it actually. It’s like how people are with their online shopping, or people and their addiction to the gym, that’s how it is for me with cooking.

The Wrangler: Can you explain to me what you do in culinary?

Smith: [For cooking lunch for the teachers] at the beginning of week Ms. Waumsley will give us a paper and since we have a budget we will look at whats on sale and try to make a menu off of that. Then, she will go grocery shopping so we will start the prep. By the time Friday comes everyone will know if they will be washing dishes, or if they are going to be serving, or if they will be cooking the food. That kind of why I like it so much because I have experience washing dishes, and being a waitress and cooking. And all of this actually counts as hours. For culinary school you have to have a certain amount of hours in the kitchen and when we run the cafe that counts as the kitchen hours I would need to go to culinary school.

The Wrangler: How long have you been in the program?

Smith: Since freshman year, so this will be my fourth year.

The Wrangler: Do you like the people in culinary?

Smith: Yes! I actually love them. No one is alike. I feel like we are that group of freaks in Perks of Being a Wallflower. I feel like that is us because we are all so different from everyone.

The Wrangler: Do you want to continue within the culinary arts field?

Smith: Honestly, I am not for sure. When I fill out college applications, I put down the culinary field, but I feel like I haven’t had the chance to explore other things because cooking is all that I have known. I love it but what is there is something else out there for me. I hope I figure things out pretty soon.

The Wrangler: Do you have enough hours to go to culinary school? And which would you like to go to?

Smith: Yeah, I have enough hours, and I would like to go the Culinary Institute of America. That one sounds nice, but a part of me doesn’t want to go to college right off the bat. I kind of want to travel, and go to Le Cordon Bleu in France. And then I’ll be able to be in school and travel at the same time.

The Wrangler: What else do you see yourself doing in the future?

Smith: In the future, I see myself travelling and working in different kitchens. Also, trying different cultural foods, like, that’s a big thing for me and I like to cook things different from the typical American dinner because you can get a burger anytime.

The Wrangler: You said you had experience as a waitress, can you tell me about other jobs that you’ve had?

Smith: Oh no I was never a waitress but yeah I did work at AMC and I would run the concessions stand and it wasn’t even real food it was horrible. And they would only put me in the concession stand which would just make me sick to my stomach. And I also worked at Panera Bread, which their food is good but it’s like all in the microwave so it’s still not FOOD. But I got to like bring people their food and people gave me tips. After I went back to AMC and then left again, now I work at H.E.B. bagging groceries. But I hope to move to the cooking connection, you have to be 18 to work in the cooking connection though.

The Wrangler: Oh I love the cooking connection.

Smith: There are samples every Sunday. You can go to H.E.B. and get full right after church. I would actually do that if I were a guy; take a girl to Costco and Sams, and get her full off the samples (chuckles).

The Wrangler: Did you have any other jobs or out of school activities?

Smith: Yeah, just those three jobs. And every summer I dedicate myself to Monday through Friday to a Food Bank, out in the Galleria area off of hill croft. There we pass out breakfast and lunch to the kids and people in need, so its free meals for them all summer. So I haven’t enjoyed a summer since 7th grade year because every summer I’ve basically just been handing out free food. And I’m so tired after it because I’m in the sun so I just go home and sleep while I’m at home. So now my service cord hours are on point! And that’s why I’m so dark.