(WACO) – Devon Wilson began observing his mother and aunts cooking when he was in elementary school.

Now, the 17-year-old 11th-grade student at Rapoport Academy in Waco enjoys baking cakes and wants one day to open his own restaurant.

Until then, he can learn and watch – which is what he and 19 other Waco and Killeen students are doing this week at the Education Service Center Region 12’s three-day Culinary Arts experience at the Greta W. Watson Culinary Arts Center at Texas State Technical College in Waco.

“For me, it is to get a close look into the culinary arts business and how to start off,” Wilson said.

Students attended their first session on Monday learning about knife cutting and using their skills to chop potatoes to make French fries. The students also used a recipe provided by Culinary Arts program staff to make spicy dipping sauce.

On Wednesday and Friday, the high school students will learn about baking and meat.

“I think hands-on learning is better than anything,” said Nakeria Lynch, an Upward Bound site coordinator for Region 12 ESC in Waco.

Jasmine Ramos, 17, a senior at Waco High School, said she enjoyed using knives.

“When you cut, you rock the knife instead of going straight down,” she said.

Ramos, an aspiring nurse, looks forward to learning more cooking skills throughout the week.

“I hope one day to cook for my mother and make her happy,” she said.

Culinary Arts faculty members and students regularly do outreach activities with area youth in Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and summer camps.

“They are the future,” Culinary Arts faculty member Gayle Van Sant said. “We hope the passion that we have can transfer to the students through food. It is a diverse industry. We like to see up-and-coming students.”

Region 12’s students have learned so far this summer about leadership skills, self-defense and community service and visited the University of North Texas in Denton. Later in July, the group will take an educational trip to Washington, D.C.

The high school students are part of Region 12’s Upward Bound program. The initiative from the U.S. Department of Education works with students from low-income or educationally deficient-families who are expected to be first-generation college students.

“It (Upward Bound) gives you more of an experience with college,” said Brittaney Rivera, 15, a 10th-grade student at Killeen High School. “It helps you decide what to do and helps you with your studies.”

(WACO) – The police officers were ready with guns drawn as they slowly walked down a hallway and entered a room where an armed gunman was standing in wait. The officers exchanged gunfire with the man, who fell to the ground. The officers surrounded him and checked him for additional weapons.

The situation was only a scenario.

But, it was one the Texas State Technical College Police Department is capable of facing in a real crisis.

“It’s good to keep in mind something that would really happen,” said Detective Roy Luna.

Officers recently had active shooter training in the old Culinary Arts building on Avenue D on TSTC’s Waco campus. The building worked well because of its maze-like design, Police Chief Brian Davis said.

“It went exceedingly well,” Davis said about the training. “It was important right now. It was also good practice.”

The training was done through the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University in San Marcos. The training center has courses in active shooter events and terrorism response tactics.

TSTC officers were led by Sgt. Joe Ashby, who attended the center five years ago for his own professional development. Ashby, a certified Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training instructor, was able to use the ALERRT’s Indirect Delivery program to temporarily secure at least $50,000 in free masks and non-lethal equipment for officers to use for their training.

“It went well,” said Ashby, who joined the TSTC police force in 2007. “We made sure we carried out plenty of run-throughs.”

Officers had classroom and scenario work and learned how the body reacts to active shooter situations and how they differed from hostage and barricade situations and standard building searches.

Methods to use in active shooter situations is already taught in police training academies using guidelines from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.

“It’s good for us to refresh,” Ashby said. “It’s muscle memory things. We have to match the intensity because it will never be like the real thing, but you get as close as you can.”

Davis said plans are being developed to offer the active shooter training for local law enforcement agencies as early as this fall.