FACS offers new class

Liberty University and the Department of Family & Consumer Sciences is offering a new bakeshop and catering class next semester that will inform students about the intricacies associated with the baking business.

Linda Kitchel, a professor in the Family & Consumer Sciences department, will be instructing the course. Kitchel has taught at Liberty for more than 20 years and has been regarded as a knowledgeable professor by students like Rachel Baumgardner.

“Dr. Kitchel is definitely wise and helpful,” Baumgardner, a junior business major, said. “She is full of insight, I can only imagine what the baking and catering class will be like. I am certain it will definitely prepare me for when I own my own business.”

Baumgardner, like many other business students, is looking to graduate from Liberty and go into the food industry. She plans on opening her own bakery one day, and she explained that, although she has always dreamed of owning a bakery, she felt the dream was far off. She had many unanswered questions that her business major never covered.

“I’m sure this class has been started because of the desire for students to go into the food industry,” Garret List, a senior business major, said. “I have talked with so many people about the dream to own a bakery or catering business, but they are just not sure if they can survive in the industry.”

List explained that he was never concerned with the food industry, but the new class has sparked an interest for him. He also shared that a lot of his friends are excited about what the class will teach them.

List and Baumgardner are in two separate programs within the business department. Baumgardner has a human resources specialization in his degree, while List focuses on marketing. Although the programs are different, the two students have found common ground in the possibly of entering into the food industry to own or manage a bakery.