Judene Stock teaches the foods classes here at Jacksonville High School. Mrs. Stock has been teaching at JHS for 18 years, and she’s enjoyed every year of it. Teaching Foods at JHS for the past eighteen years has made her experienced when it comes to teaching new cooks in the lab. She loves to inspire her students to make wonderful food and how to make it healthy, as she always says, “In Moderation!” From simple cinnamon tortillas to pizza, she teaches a new generation of students how to cook and how to cook well.
When she was younger, Mrs. Stock wanted to work in the test kitchen of Betty Crocker but did not want to live in the vast state of Minnesota in order to do so, but she chose the next best thing–teaching foods! She went to Eastern Illinois University to get her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Stock was inspired to teach by her 4-H leader, Joanne Anderson and her mother.  She has taught at two other schools, A-C Central and Taylorville Jr. High School.

In all her years working here at JHS, she has to say, her hands-down favorite recipe is the Jackpot drop cookies, which are one of the many recipes she teaches. She loves to teach all the recipes in her foods classes.

In her class, the work is easy and usually laid back as the students cook and take turns measuring ingredients and working as a team to make the recipe that is assigned. On lab days, she wanders the kitchens, answering questions about the recipes or helping kitchens that seem lost about what to do. She has a great way of letting the students do their thing until they need help and she lets her students have a sense of independence when it comes to being in the kitchen.