It’s a Tuesday afternoon and the commercial kitchen at Mount Royal Collegiate is filled with grade 11 and 12 students preparing a restaurant quality meal under the careful and encouraging eye of Wayne Pilon. 

Wayne teaches the commercial cooking program, along with the high school’s food skills and sewing classes (he is also the school's Athletic Director), and today he is dividing up the students into three stations: protein, vegetables, and sauces. 

The kitchen has everything students would expect to see in a restaurant kitchen. Stoves and ovens are turned on and ready for use, knives are sharpened, and supplies are stored in large, walk-in freezers. 

This is one of Wayne Pilon’s happy places. 

Wayne grew up in restaurant kitchens. He loves the controlled chaos and communication of a busy kitchen, and he brings that passion every day to his students. 

Wayne is teaching his students more than just the joys and challenges of cooking. He’s instilling them with confidence and showing them the benefits of teamwork and communication; qualities that will reach far beyond the kitchen for these students. 

I spoke with Wayne in his classroom over his lunch break before his commercial cooking class got going in the kitchen. Wayne is such a personable guy and a gifted storyteller, and I really loved learning about his commitment to connecting students to Saskatchewan’s natural pantry of ingredients. 

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Thank you for continuing to support a local, independent podcast here in Saskatoon. I really do appreciate it.

Best of luck to Wayne and his students on the rest of their semester! They prepared a heck of a meal in this episode!

Cheers...Eric 

• Host, Producer, Editor: Eric Anderson
• Theme Music: Andrew Dickson
• Website: https://www.yxeunderground.com
• Recorded: On Treaty 6 Territory and the traditional homeland of the Metis