Jessica McGee, who joined Sante Fe High’s team in 2022, teaches Introduction to Culinary Arts and Prostart l and ll. 

Originally from Las Vegas, N.M., Ms. McGee attended New Mexico State University, in Las Cruces, as well as New Mexico Highlands University, in Las Vegas. She earned a bachelor’s degree in special education and minored in both history and performing arts. She also attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles.

After teaching history and dance for a while, Ms. McGee spent time working in restaurants. She worked as a server, a floor manager, a bartender, a front-of-house manager, a line cook, a pastry chef, and a general manager. She also worked as a private chef and a consulting chef. 

“I wasn’t expecting to work so much with food, but when I started as a server I realized how much I loved the restaurant industry,” Ms. McGee explained. “It is fast-paced and fun. I met so many new people, and I loved that food is really a connecting factor for all of us. Everyone needs to eat, but life is so much more interesting when you can eat beautiful, tasty food.”

Ms. McGee then transitioned to teaching, explaining that she taught in the culinary arts program at Luna Community College for three years and then at West Las Vegas High School for another three years. “The opportunity opened up for me to teach in the culinary program here, and it was perfect timing, because I was moving to Santa Fe that same year,” she explained.

Ms. McGee really enjoys teaching. “I have always loved teaching because it has been a great way for me to connect with others and help empower them through knowledge and hard work,” she said. “I love when I can see my students working hard, but also having fun.

“I love seeing students at the beginning of the year who have never read a recipe or stepped foot in a kitchen transition to the end of the year in culinary arts class, and they can basically make whatever they want,” she elaborated. “We need food to live, and we all deserve to know how to make the food we love, well.”

In her free time, Ms. McGee enjoys photography, gardening, and raising chickens. She also loves to work out, hike, and read.

Ms. McGee got married in the summer of 2023. She has a teen-age son, and the couple are expecting a baby this winter.