Britt Pedlar, a staff member at Prairie High School who teaches all of the culinary classes, somehow always knows how to brighten a student’s mood. He brings positive vibes to the classroom every day, providing a safe and enjoyable environment for all students who enter his classroom.
Pedlar was a high school graduate and proceeded to take on hard jobs afterward such as going into construction for ten years and working in finance at a bank for 12 years. After the first semester of community college, Pedlar withdrew to pursue other opportunities while making money. While pursuing these, he was trying to determine what he wanted to do as a career. Along the way, he worked in residential construction, a mortgage company specializing in finance and soon after went back to school at Northwest Culinary institute. Pedlar graduated as valedictorian of my class and was awarded his diploma in culinary. Soon after, he taught at Northwest Corner, a post-secondary college.
Pedlar gave presentations at Battle Ground High School, teaching students the basics of culinary. Staff members were impressed with his progress with students and were told there was a job opening at Prairie High School, which he took. Pedlar never expected his life to take such a turn stating that “it’s not something that I ever considered, like it’s a calling because it’s clearly something that I didn’t think I would ever want to do”.
Being at Prairie for nine years, he has made many big accomplishments throughout those years. He started his own program called Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) and created a YouTube channel to help others with their culinary skills, especially students. In addition, Pedlar took the honor of being a grad commencement speaker three times in eight years.
One student in Pedlar Advanced Culinary Class, Diego Pelayo, loves Pedlar as a teacher and as an individual. Pelayo describes his personality as “outgoing” and “funny”, providing a fun environment to learn in. Pelayo states that Pedlar always “puts a smile on students’ faces and creates a personal connection with each student”.
Pedlar has continuously impacted students each day and will continue to do so throughout the rest of the school year.
