From cooking to credit scores, Rock Falls duo teach students how to live the good life

Two Rock Falls High School teachers are helping students learn practical life skills that go beyond the classroom.

Amy Heffelfinger and Heidi Ripley run the Family and Consumer Sciences Department at RFHS. FCS classes teach students practical life skills, such as consumer education and financial planning, cooking and nutrition, interior design, parenting and child development, sewing and more.

Heffelfinger has been teaching for 25 years and is originally from south of Springfield, but moved to the area with her husband to be closer to his family. She started teaching at RFHS 20 years ago.

“I started cooking when I was 2 or 3 years old,” Heffelfinger said. “I’ve always loved to cook and bake and be around kids, and I’ve worked at daycare centers. So, that got me into the child development part of Family and Consumer Sciences.”

Ripley is originally from the Quincy area and has been teaching at RFHS for 32 years. She was inspired by her high school FCS teacher to follow the same path.

“I went to school at Eastern Illinois University, and when I graduated, there were only four teachers who could teach home economics, which is what it was called back then,” Ripley said. “There were very few openings and Rock Falls High School was one of the few schools that were hiring.”

Both teachers do their best to split up the FCS classes. Heffelfinger teaches Orientation to Home Economics, Parenting and Childhood Studies classes.

“Parenting class is geared toward what it’s like to be a parent, what are different types of parents and what you want to be as a parent,” Heffelfinger said. “Then we get into pregnancy and childbirth. In childhood studies, we start when the baby is just born and how they develop, physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually. Orientation to Home Economics is a dive into learning the basics of cooking. We do a lot of sanitation, safety and then basic stuff. We’re making pasta right now.”

Ripley teaches Foods 2, Interior Decoration, Consumer Education and the Education Pathway for future teachers. Both teachers also take turns teaching Foods 1.

“Our Foods 2 class is a food/social studies class,” Ripley said. “We discuss the different regions of the U.S. and the foods that we eat and why we eat them. Then, we talk about culture. Next, we move into some European countries and Asia. Then, they cook a meal that is representative of that area of the United States or the country that we’re studying.”

Although Consumer Education is the only FCS class that is a graduation requirement, Heffelfinger believes cooking and parenting classes should be included.

“It’s something that people are going to do for the rest of their lives,” Heffelfinger said. “The flip side of that is a lot of people at home will teach them. I learned how to cook from my grandma and my mom. Parenting should also be required because there’s so much that goes into being a parent that kids need to consider and it’s stuff they’ll use going forward.”

While many FCS classes focus on practical, hands-on skills, Ripley said technology also finds its way into the classroom.

“Our Interior Decoration class uses a CAD program called Chief Architect,” Ripley said. “We go to the computer lab and they have a floor plan that they then use the CAD programming to recreate. Then, they can put furniture in and also manipulate the objects they put into the room to change the colors. Next, we work on the elements and principles of design.”

Heffelfinger said FCS courses, such as Foods, are graded differently from traditional academic classes.

“The kids just learned some of the basics about pasta, like where it came from, the different characteristics of what fresh versus dried pasta is and all that background information,” Heffelfinger said. “Then, we make it in the lab to put it into practice, and then they take a test after it’s over.”

Both teachers have watched their department evolve over the years and have noticed an upward trend of more boys taking FCS classes than girls.

“Now, I don’t know if it’s because they get to eat, that’s probably part of it, but I also think things have changed over time,” Heffelfinger said. “Many men now live alone, or are the people who fix supper for the family.”

Ripley said the best part of her job is teaching students skills they will use throughout their lives.

“I tell them on the very first day, ‘This isn’t going to be a math class where you may never use this again. You are going to take all of the knowledge that you have and you’re going to apply it at some point,’” Ripley said. “We just finished the credit unit in my Consumer Education class. Although not one of them can get a loan or a credit card right now, I try to set them up so that they will not be in debt, and understand how to get a good credit score and what to look for in interest rates.”

For Heffelfinger, teaching is all about building relationships with her students and seeing the pride on their faces when they learn a new skill.

“The kids aren’t supposed to have their phones when they’re cooking, but they’ll make something and ask if they can have their phone so they can take a picture of their food,” Heffelfinger said. “When they’re bragging about their stuff, it makes me feel good because they’re proud of what they’ve created, and when it’s fabulous, then they’re excited to take it home to Mom and Dad to try.”