1. A familiar part timer re-
cently became a full time
face at Culinary Arts, Hos-
pitality, and Horticulture.
Derek Peterson is now
the CHH Inventory Man-
agement System Specialist.
Peterson has been acting
as interim specialist since
last fall.
Born in Green Bay, Wis-
consin, Derek grew up in
hurricane territory – liter-
ally. He was raised in Hurri-
cane, West Virginia, a city
some 15 miles west of
Charleston. It’s like Papil-
lion is to Omaha, says Pe-
terson.
Peterson first attended
college at University of
Kentucky. He then ven-
tured to North Dakota,
where he studied aviation.
Along with his commercial
pilot’s license, he walked
away with a degree in
business man-
agement – and
a reason to
move to
Omaha. It was
while attend-
ing the Univer-
sity of North
Dakota that he
met his future
wife, April,
who just hap-
pened to be a
native of
Papillion.
When April returned to
the Omaha area, Peterson
followed, and took a job at
one of Eppley Airfield’s
Fixed Base Operations. The
position had a wide range
of responsibilities, includ-
ing not only customer ser-
vice, but fueling private
and commercial airplanes.
But then the economy
turned. Hours were cut.
Former PTTemp now FT Inventory Management Specialist
The newsletter for Culinary Arts, Hospitality, and Horticulture
Inside this issue:
The deadline is ap-
proaching for the
Omaha Restaurant As-
sociation Foundation
scholarships. Applica-
tions must be POST-
MARKED no later than
March 12, 2012. The
ORA Foundation offers
seven financial need-
based scholarships
worth $700 each. There
are also five academic
scholarships worth
$1,000 each. The schol-
arships can be used for
tuition, books, and culi-
nary tools. Instructors
have copies of the ap-
plications for inter-
ested students.
February 2012
Volume 2, Issue 2
Sage
Grow. Cook. Serve.
Community Spotlight: Derek Peterson
Management programs
disappeared.
Facing an uncertain fu-
ture at the FBO, Peterson
decided to go back to
school. In the spring of
2009, he enrolled in the
Institute for Culinary Arts.
It wasn’t long before he
Derek Peterson
MCC’s ‘Secret’ Garden 3
Behind the scenes: Bistro 4
Scholarship opportuni-
ties
4
HS Invitational Photos 5
Continued on page 2

2. also picked up part time
work in the Brick Hearth
Café. He was also there
to help move into the
new ICA building, and
served as one the build-
ing’s first lab assistants.
He has worked part time
as interim E-Tech since
last summer.
He applied for the FT
position in late fall, and
moved into his new office
in January.
In his ‘new’ position,
From page 1
Page 2 Sage Volume 2, Issue 2
One MCC student
currently enrolled in the
Culinary Arts or
Hospitality programs has
the chance to win a
$3,000 scholarship
sponsored by Omaha
Steaks. It will be
administered as part of
the 2012 James Beard
Foundation. Full
information and
application forms will be
available at the beginning
of April at
jamesbeard.org.
Editorial Review:
Dean Jim Trebbien,
Culinary Arts,
Hospitality, &
Horticulture
Editor: Christine Kasel
Please email story
ideas, comments, and
event information to :
clkasel@mccneb.edu.
Culinary Arts, Hospitality & Horticulture
Vision
To be the benchmark in Culinary Arts, Hospitality & Horticulture
Mission Statement
We create, design, and deliver educational experiences in
Culinary Arts, Hospitality and Horticulture in order to develop knowledge
from basic skills to artistic mastery for employment and enrichment.
Value Statements
We believe and commit to:
Excellence Exceeding expectations
Stewardship Being respectful and responsible
Teamwork Working together to achieve goals
Learning Encouraging discovery, rigor & innovation
Mission Statement,Vision &Value Statements
Peterson will focus on
areas impacting inventory
management, such as
cost controls, and effi-
ciency.
He will also work with
catering chefs and in-
structors on determining
the costs associated with
menu development, and
help with ordering prod-
uct.
Derek and his wife have
been married for 2 ½
years. April works in IT at
Children’s Hospital. They
currently live in Ashland
but plan to build in the
Omaha/Sarpy County area.
The couple has two dogs,
Ullie and Arya. The latter, a
female, was adopted Dec.
7, just in time for Christ-
mas.
In his spare time, Derek
likes to spend time on his
bike – lot of time. A fan of
‘century rides’, Peterson
soon plans to pedal 100
miles in a single ride.
Derek Peterson: Inventory Management System Specialist

3. Men’s Garden Club. (The
membership isn’t limited
to men. The club officially
welcomed women into
the fold in 1990.)
All-America Selections®
(AAS) Display Gardens
provide a valuable service
to the gardening public.
Annual flowers and vege-
tables that win the pres-
tigious award are chosen
after rigorous testing at
trial gardens located
throughout the US and
Canada.
Criteria used to select
the winners include early
bloom or harvest; novel
color or flavor; disease or
pest resistance; novel
The (well-known) secret garden at CHH
“To promote new garden seed
varieties with superior garden
performance judged in impartial
trials in North America.”
That’s the philosophy
behind the Omaha Men’s
Garden Club All-America
Selections® Display Gar-
den.
But chances are you’ve
walked by this hidden gem
and didn’t even know it.
You may have walked by
the white-picketed garden
several times during the
summer, admiring the lush
flowers and plump toma-
toes. You may have as-
sumed it was a horticulture
department project. But,
it’s not. It’s actually
planted and maintained by
volunteers from the Omaha
Page 3Sage Volume 2, Issue 2
All-America
Selection®
Display Garden a
hidden gem
Photos courtesy of All-America Selection®
Below: Some of the 2012
AAS Selections that you
may see in the Men’s Club
Garden. From left: Orna-
mental Pepper ’Black
Olive; Salvia ‘Summer
Jewel Pink’; Vinca ‘Jams
‘N‘ Jellies Blackberry’; and
Watermelon ‘Faerie’ F1.
Continued on page 6
Above is a not-to-scale, approximate rendition of the Men’s
Club Garden in relation to the Greenhouse and surround-
ing structures.

4. Imagine opening a new
restaurant and your wait
staff has received only one
or two days training. That’s
what they do at The Bistro
– every 11 weeks.
The staff has only one or
two classes in which to
prepare for the Bistro
opening. “The students
learn on the job,” says Zuk.
“It’s a common practice in
the industry.”
The Bistro is a living lab.
It’s a functioning restau-
rant, staffed by students
getting real time, on the
job training. Like most res-
taurants, it is divided into
two houses: Front and
Back of House (FOH, BOH).
Unlike most restaurants,
FOH positions are filled by
culinary ‘staff’.
“Traditionally, chefs …
don’t spend much time
there,” says Hospitality
Instructor Joellen Zuk, who
also manages the FOH stu-
dent operations, “But this
is a requirement in our
curriculum.
By putting the culinary
students in this position,
says, Zuk “they come to
understand the value of
FOH operations.”
“Chefs are accustomed
to delivering incredible
food,” she adds. “But they
are dependent upon
(quality) customer service”
in providing an out-
standing dining experi-
ence. And the people who
staff FOH provide the cus-
tomer contact.
For most culinary stu-
dents, this is their first op-
portunity to work in FOH.
“It captures what real life
is like in their chosen ca-
reer.”
The FOH management
includes expediters (expos)
and a Maitre d. The expo
communicates between
the BOH and wait staff,
and coordinates the final
delivery of plates to the
guests. They ensure the
plates come out at the
proper time, are at the
correct temperature, and
are garnished and pre-
sented properly. It re-
quires constant, quality
communication.
In addition to greeting
and seating the diners, the
Maitre d oversees the din-
ing room set-up, and as-
signs wait staff. They also
help train wait staff, and
complete paperwork for
weekly operations.
Zuk says it’s gratifying to
Behind the Scenes : The Bistro
Maple Leaf Farms is
running a student
recipe contest that
calls for three original
recipes for appetizers
or small plates that
showcase duck in
creative ways. The top
two prizes are worth
$2,500 and $1,500,
respectively.
The contest begins
March 1 and runs
through June 8, 2012.
More information can
be found at
mapleleaffarms.com/
chefcontest.
Page 4 Sage Volume 2, Issue 2
Next month we
return with Behind
the Scenes: Part II. In
the next installment,
we’ll venture to the
Back of the House to
check in with the
students who
prepare the food for
The Bistro.
Part I: Front of
the House at
The Bistro
Continued on page 6

5. Page 5Sage Volume 2, Issue 2
SNAPSHOTS
2012 ICA High School
Invitational
(more photos page 6)

6. From page 5
flower forms; total yield;
and length of flowering.
Some entries may require
improvement in at least
two categories.
Winners are announced
in late winter, and become
available in spring at gar-
den shops and nurseries.
But for a gardener, there’s
nothing like seeing a plant
in a garden setting. That’s
where the Display Garden
comes in.
The Men’s Club Garden
grows the winners for
public viewing. It not only
showcases the winners in
an attractive setting, it
also shows the public how
those winners perform in
the local environment. The
Men’s Club Garden fea-
tures not only the latest
winners, but others from
years past.
There are only two AAS
Display Gardens® in Ne-
braska. The other garden
is located at the Nebraska
State Fair Park Arboretum
in Lincoln.
Visitors to the Men’s
Club Display Garden may
find a guest book and in-
formation on AAS win-
ners in the garden mail-
box. It’s located at the
entrance, on the west side
of the garden.
Men’s Club
AAS® Display
Garden
Page 6 Sage Volume 2, Issue 2
The Bistro Front
of the House
Sage is the voice of Culinary Arts, Hospitality, and Horti-
culture at MCC. It connects our community through sto-
ries, news, and information. Sage is for us, and all that
we do: Grow. Cook. Serve.
Editorial Review: Jim Trebbien, Dean of Culinary Arts,
Hospitality and Horticulture
Editor: Christine Kasel
Please email story ideas, comments, and calendar items
to: clkasel@mccneb.edu
see the students take per-
sonal responsibility in the
Bistro operations, no mat-
ter what their role. “They
want to learn to succeed,”
she says.
“When they take it to
heart like that, we just
can’t lose.”
SNAPSHOTS
2012 ICA High
School Invitational
From page 3
From page 4