Patrick Butler is the first male cafeteria manager at Redwood Elementary.
Gail Kavanaugh, Director of child nutrition at the Vicksburg Warren School District knew Butler when she hired him.
“I taught him nutrition at Hinds and had Patrick in my nutrition class for 3 years. I knew his family and I knew he had potential,” she said.
After Butler received his Culinary Arts degree from Hinds in 2012, he shadowed Barbara Smith, the cafeteria manager at Dana Road Elementary.
“He actually became certified and became an assistant manager at Dana Road,” Kavanaugh said.
She said Smith was an excellent manager.
“Her temperament and her ability to work with people — I knew she’d be a good mentor for Patrick,” she said.
She said there was an unexpected opening at Redwood, and she said it was a natural fit for Butler.
This is Butlers first year Redwood and he said he really enjoys it.
“Everything is wonderful. I love my staff. I love the students,” he said.
Butler has two degrees from Hinds, Culinary Arts and Hotel Restaurant Management.
He is currently taking online classes at Belhaven University to get his bachelors degree in Business Administration.
He is hoping to finish his degree within the year.
At 22 years old, Butler is young, but not new to the field.
He was an assistant manager at Crechale’s, a restaurant in Jackson for three years.
His favorite kind of food is Southern food with a healthy twist.
Butler tries to make everything he cooks as healthy as possible.
“Fruits are fresh, vegetables are fresh,” he said.
He tries to encourage the students to try new things.
“You don’t know if you’d like it unless you try it,” he said.
Children are required by a new nationwide regulation to get fresh fruit with every meal.
“We wish congress would give us money to fund nutrition education. Nothing hurts our feelings more than seeing fresh fruit thrown in the garbage,” Kavanaugh said.
“One thing I really want to do with the help of my staff is to make healthy meals and teach students the importance of good nutrition,” Butler said.
One thing Butler does is offer samples to student to taste and they let him know if they like the dish he cooked.
Butler serves about 320 students for lunch and 250 for breakfast.
Lunch is served from 10:25 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.