Culinary teacher Jonnay Grooms has been a part of the Fluco family for years, after graduating from Fluvanna County High School in 2013 she then decided to further her education in culinary arts at Piedmont Virginia Community College. Grooms is now the head of the Culinary department at FCHS, teaching Culinary I, Culinary II, and an apprenticeship class.

But teaching is not the only side to Grooms. She is also a wife, a mother to one (with another baby on the way), and owner of a catering business. Although Grooms’ position is teaching, students look to her as a mentor, inspiration, and so much more.

Grooms creates an environment in her classroom/ kitchen where students feel safe to open up and really let their talents shine. “She keeps the class fun by assigning us competitive labs like chopped, food truck wars, and cupcake wars that motivate us to really show what we can do,” said Zeke Johnson, a current Culinary II student.

Before applying for the Culinary Teacher position at FCHS Grooms worked as a pastry chef and a sous chef at several different restaurants, including The Clifton Inn and The Bunker Bistro. Grooms uses her career as a chef to represent women as well as African-Americans in the industry. “As an African-American female Chef, it is my opportunity to not only represent females in this male dominated industry but African-Americans as well,” stated Grooms. Although Grooms enjoyed working in restaurants she leaped at the opportunity to inspire the future chefs of Fluvanna.

Grooms enjoys going out to dinner, hosting parties, and hanging out with her daughter. In her free time, Grooms always makes time to spend with her family. Although she lives a busy life, Grooms finds that balancing work and family is key to a happy life. Maintaining a close knit relationship with her family helps her feel close to home even when she’s not there.

In her time at Fluvanna, Grooms has inspired many students throughout the warm welcoming environment she creates in the kitchen. “The way she builds a relationship with each individual student makes her classroom feel more comfortable and she’s always there for anything whether that be us having a bad day or just needing someone to talk to,” said Dajuan Robinson, former student of Grooms.

Grooms can usually be found leading the kitchen and dishing up smiles to students and staff.