The Home Baking Association is proud to announce Cathe Felz, Culinary Arts teacher at Three Forks Middle School and High School in Montana, as the recipient of the 2025 Educator Award. Cathe’s outstanding lesson plan, Exploring the Delicious World of Sourdough, exemplifies the power of baking education to connect students with science, history, culture, and community—all through the joy of making something from scratch.


In her winning lesson, Cathe’s students cultivated their own sourdough starters, learning to identify the wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria responsible for the fermentation process. Microscopes in the kitchen allowed students to observe microbial activity firsthand, turning culinary class into a working science lab. Alongside this scientific exploration, students traced the historical journey of sourdough from ancient Egypt to the California Gold Rush, revealing how bread has sustained communities and shaped cultures for thousands of years. Their learning culminated in a school-wide Sourdough Showcase and Tasting, followed by community service visits to the local Senior Citizen Center where students prepared and served homemade bread as part of a grant-funded service project.

Cathe’s innovative and cross-curricular approach was selected by a panel of judges from across our member organizations. As the winner, she will receive a $1,000 cash prize and a trip to the Home Baking Association’s Annual Meeting in Fort Collins, Colorado. Her lesson plan will also be added to our national catalog of educational baking resources, shared widely with family and consumer science educators, libraries, and community centers across the country.

The Home Baking Association congratulates Cathe Felz and celebrates the passion and creativity she brings to her students every day. Her work is a shining example of how baking can nourish both minds and communities. To learn more about her background and her approach to teaching, read her official bio. 

Cathe’s students hard at work

Cathe’s sourdough starter

Viewing live sourdough starter

Important Resources

Educator Award
HBA recognizes outstanding educators who creatively incorporate baking into their classroom curriculum. 

Bake to Give: Maddie Kruse Youth Award
The award honors young bakers who make a positive impact in their communities through baking. 

Lesson Plans
Many of our lesson plans are developed from the Educator Award-winning submissions we receive. 

 

A Few Words from Cathe

“Baking in the classroom provides students the opportunity to practice skills learned across the curriculum. Culinary labs reinforce math, science, literacy, and social studies. It encourages teamwork, builds confidence, and introduces concepts of sustainability. The bonus outcome is students get to try new things, practice a variety of skills, and most of the time are able to eat their homework!

Like many, I first learned to bake at my grandmother’s side. She cooked her entire life on an old-fashioned wood stove, and her recipes weren’t written with degrees or timers, but with instructions like ‘add three lumps of coal’ or ‘use two sticks of wood’ to heat the oven. The ingredients were simple, the measurements generous, and the results were always delicious. Food just tasted better at Grandma’s house. Maybe it was the wood smoke, or maybe it was the love she stirred into every dish.

Now, as a teacher, my favorite part of the classroom is passing on that same spirit through baking. Teaching students to bake allows them to apply classroom learning through practical application of concepts learned in science, math, and history—but even more, it teaches patience, teamwork, problem-solving, and the joy of creating something from scratch. Just like I learned from my grandmother, I hope my students will carry these lessons with them, long after the flour has settled.”

 

Call to Action: Empower Youth through Baking

If you’re a community leader, after-school specialist, librarian, or educator in any setting, you have the power to make a lasting impact on young lives—starting in the kitchen. Baking is more than a practical life skill. It teaches math, science, literacy, problem-solving, patience, and teamwork. It nurtures creativity, builds confidence, and encourages healthy choices.

At the Home Baking Association, we believe that learning to bake is essential for childhood development, helping young people grow into capable, curious, and caring adults. We invite you to explore our free lesson plans, activity guides, and educator resources to start or strengthen a baking education program in your school or community.

Bring baking into your programs—because when kids learn to bake, they’re learning for life.

Visit HomeBaking.org to get started.