Page 40 - Flathead Beacon // 9.14.16

EVENTS 42 MOVIE REVIEWS 43 SIDE DISH 46 FACES & PLACES 47 PAWS & CLAWS 48 Arts&Entertainment
Festival of
Delicious Opportunity
WBY MOLLY PRIDDY OF THE BEACON
HEN OUR LIVES SLUMP AND STUTTER,
when that other shoe we’ve been worried
about nally drops, we tend to scramble back to the basics, taking a look at what isn’t working, what is, and what makes us happy, content, comforted.
And while every person is unique in their needs and wants, for many — across manmade and cultural boundaries — the answer lies in ful lling one of our most foundational needs: food.
For Janice LaPierre, 55, that moment came about 15 years ago, when she was back home in New Hamp- shire during the winter after her life felt like it was going o the rails.
“Life had fallen apart,” LaPierre said. “But I loved to cook, and everybody raved about my soups.”
LaPierre discovered a sort of clarity in her situa- tion, because it gave her the idea she would nurture for the next decade and a half. It was winter, she found comfort in making soups, and there was a lot of con- struction happening in her town. She could take this soup show on the road, LaPierre thought, in a food truck.
That dream would smolder for the next 15 years, including eight spent behind a desk and three com- puter monitors in a cubicle. She left that job for the promise of another, but when that fell through, LaPi- erre once again found opportunity in the face of adver- sity. She loved to cook, and had heard about the Culi- nary Arts Program at Flathead Valley Community College.
It was daunting.
“My thought was I didn’t want to get in debt at my age,” LaPierre said. “But it was the right time. I was going physically stir crazy.”
She tried holding down a part-time job while taking
classes that rst semester, but it was proving a chal- lenge of time and brainpower.
“Then the second semester, I scored a scholarship, and that’s when I gave my notice (at my job),” LaPierre said last week, sitting in the kitchens at FVCC. “And that’s what’s keeping me a oat.”
One scholarship turned into a few, and being able to focus solely on school allowed LaPierre to manage a 3.87 to 3.92 GPA, which, along with meeting credit requirements, led to FVCC waiving tuition for her nal year.
“Without the scholarships, I wouldn’t have been able to focus,” LaPierre said.
Scholarships are the academic lifeblood for many
ABOVE A plate of food prepared in the FVCC culinary program. BEACON FILE PHOTO like LaPierre at FVCC; last year, the college awarded
about $800,000 to students. And one of the biggest sources of funds for these grants is the Festival of Flavors, a year of food-and-wine-centric events cul- minating during the week of Sept. 16-24.
Colleen Unterreiner, executive director of institu- tional advancement at the college, said the festival’s inaugural year in 2008 brought in about $30,000. Last year, after years of growth including the addi- tion of spring and summer events, Festival of Flavors earned about $200,000, the bulk of which went to
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SEPTEMBER 14, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
FVCC’s major scholarship fundraiser, Festival of Flavors,takes place throughout the valley Sept. 16-24