Recent H-D-CAL grad receives Iowa Restaurant Foundation scholarship

Erin Plagge didn’t need long in the culinary programs at Hampton-Dumont-CAL High School to know she found her life’s calling.

Plagge, a 2020 H-D-CAL grad, will attend Iowa State University in the fall to study Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Education and Studies in hopes to becoming a high school FCS instructor.

Plagge’s decision to do so was recently bolstered by The Pete and Ida Rastrelli Scholarship through the Iowa Restaurant Association Education Foundation’s 2020 scholarship initiative. The IRAEF gives out scholarship each year to graduating high school students who pursue higher education in the culinary arts, restaurant management and other hospitality-related fields.

Plagge recalls her introduction to the culinary field through H-D-CAL FCS instructor Jane Hoegh’s classes. With her talent and natural ability of cooking, Hoegh urged Plagge to pursue a spot on the H-D-CAL ProStart culinary team, which won the Iowa State High School ProStart Invitational culinary competition in 2019. Hoegh’s encouragement, Plagge said, is what sparked the idea of further pursing the culinary arts.

“I really loved all the hands-on learning I did in Mrs. Hoegh’s class and I found a natural talent for cooking,” she said. “Mr. and Mrs. Hoegh encouraged me to join ProStart and Bulldog Café because they saw I had a talent and passion in cooking.”

And soon after she began her career in ProStart, Plagge said she knew she had found her niche.

“I didn’t think that I would be going into the culinary field when I was younger, but once I was exposed to the industry, I knew that’s where I belonged,” she said.

With the culinary industry’s wide ranging set of careers, Plagge said she knew she had to narrow her focus and that it was Hoegh’s passion and enthusiasm for her students that clued her in to a career as an instructor.

“(She) was the one that inspired me to become an FCS instructor,” said Plagge. “My junior year, I started shadowing Mrs. Hoegh in one of her foods classes and it was at the end of that year when I decided to pursue a career in FCS education.”

Plagge said she was honored to receive the award and is inspired by the IRAEF’s mission to encourage students such as herself to pursue the culinary field.

“I was surprised when I received word that I got the scholarship,” she said. “The IRAEF has been very generous and supportive of all ProStart students and wants to help the next generation of the culinary industry to the best of their ability.”