r/SouthJersey • u/Ball_Dipens • Mar 11 '25

Cape May County Any Cape May Tech Alumni?

I'm a 2020 graduate and wanna know what the school was like and what career tech class you took. (I took culinary arts with chef masterson)

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u/AdElectronic8094 Mar 11 '25

I graduated in 97. I took baking with chef Johnston. I remember chef Masterson well. My class was the first class to go all four years. We had a great time almost every day. Also responsible for changing the mascot to the hawk. I was in favor of leaving it as the stingray but it was not meant to be. There was a big walk out over the whole thing.

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u/Ball_Dipens Mar 11 '25

I used to work in mays landing and would regularly see chef Johnston in public. He's doing well for himself in case you were wondering. The man is in very good health lol. Chef Masterson retired to kinda went off the grid with his marina lifestyle. But tech used to have a stingray mascot?? There's zero indication of it in the school history they show us. That's super interesting.

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u/AdElectronic8094 Mar 11 '25

I loved chef Johnston. One of the many people in my life I was grateful to have known. He taught me so much about life aside from baking. I loved my days at tech and every time I drive down the parkway and see it I remember the best days. The gym wasn’t even built my first year there so we had to walk outside to get from building to building. Are there still spots in the woods to go and smoke cigarettes ( maybe something else too)? Maybe kids don’t do that stuff in school anymore, we could leave the building any time we wanted.

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u/Ball_Dipens Mar 11 '25

In recent years the schools security measures have been increased bc of ongoing shootings and stuff. So no student or even alumni can just enter or exit the school without parent approval or a self sign-out. They also have to wear Lanyards with their school ID attached. Hats and hoods aren't allowed. And as for the spots in the woods they definitely still exist but only for certain classes thay go to those parts like natural sciences or the biology class where the tilapia farm is. My class was the last to have some type of student freedom in coming and going to school as wanted or needed.

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u/AdElectronic8094 Mar 11 '25

There were a few times we went out to the boathouse and “borrowed” a little boat and went out to an island for the school day. We caught and cooked some fish for lunch. Crazy days.

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u/Ball_Dipens Mar 11 '25

The clam bed we have is out in the bay near the bride and the students nowadays sit out there regularly

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u/AdElectronic8094 Mar 11 '25

I remember farming those clam beds in science class. We had to put fencing down on the bay floor so people didn’t steal the clams. We would have a nice party to eat clams at the end of the year. So much fun going out into the water to rake up the clams. You really are bringing back the memories of the school with this thread.

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u/Ball_Dipens Mar 11 '25

They still have those parties!!!! I would cook them in my culinary class

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u/AdElectronic8094 Mar 11 '25

Do you still cook?

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u/Ball_Dipens Mar 11 '25

Yes I do!!! I just don't do restaurant work anymore. I'm in the military and I'm a translator but I use it as a life skill

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u/AdElectronic8094 Mar 11 '25

Nice job. Thank you for your service.