Molina teacher pursues culinary excellence
Chef Rosilind Coleman has spent the past seven years preparing students in Dallas ISD for opportunities in the hospitality industry and beyond, and now, she is celebrating a new accomplishment: receiving the Jim Howard Hospitality Educator Scholarship from the Hotel Association of North Texas.
“Coming off the two years we’ve faced with COVID, the hospitality industry has really taken a hard hit,” Coleman said. “People don’t really realize how much these people give in their day-to-day jobs just to provide a pleasant experience for the guests. You need a servant’s heart to pursue this type of work, so it was really exciting to attend the awards ceremony.” 
Coleman plans to use her scholarship to take the Texas Hotel Lodging Association’s weeklong intensive training course at the University of Houston, where she will learn about the different aspects of hospitality leadership from front office and marketing, to food and beverage, staffing and accounting.
She is looking forward to bringing her enhanced skill set back to her students at Moisés E. Molina High School. As a culinary arts teacher, Coleman primarily focuses on advanced baking and pastry classes, but she also supports Molina’s in-house restaurant and catering fundraising for the programs, which give students hands-on experiences that can lead to higher level roles in the workforce.
“All I’ve ever really wanted to do was share my joy and interest in hospitality with others,” Coleman said. “As I do that, I keep growing and evolving to help my students be better as well and give them new opportunities.”
Those opportunities are already presenting themselves thanks to Coleman’s Jim Howard Hospitality Educator Scholarship. She was able to network with industry professionals at the awards ceremony and is in the process of developing an advisory board of hospitality leaders to work closely with her students and open new doors.
While Coleman is excelling in her work thanks to her decade of culinary experience, her passion started early. She said she has loved baking and cooking for as long as she can remember. While she did not always want to be a teacher, she comes from a family of educators and eventually “caught the bug.” She decided to merge her two passions, and now she would not have it any other way.
“It’s really a blessing and an opportunity,” Coleman said. “I get to enhance my knowledge in education while networking to give my students better opportunities for the future. If I can in any way show my desire to be better trained and more well-rounded in my craft, then I feel I can give my students an idea of what it takes to be the best at what they want to do.”
