Castillo, Esther
Tour the Culinary Facilities here at Barry Goldwater High School
About Ms. Castillo:
Esther Castillo (formerly Skinner) is a Certified Educator since 1996. She has been a Culinary Instructor since 2012, and joined the Barry Goldwater High School Culinary program in 2017. She possesses teaching certifications in the U.S. Territory of Guam, California, Florida and Arizona. She holds a Bachelor's of Arts Degree in Secondary Education, a Master's of Arts Degree in Educational Leadership and is ABD (All But Dissertation) in Educational Leadership holding 56 Doctoral Credits. Her passion of Culinary Arts stems from her exposure to the Culinary Industry when she worked at Loews Coronado Bay Resort and Spa in Coronado, California as well as her upbringing in her island heritage where many celebrations were centered around food.
She was here at the opening of our student-run restaurant, Avenue 27 and continues to teach her students how to thrive in the restaurant industry in both front of the house and back of the house employment positions.
In her years as a Culinary Arts instructor, Esther Castillo has led her student competition teams to success as they consistently place 1st or 2nd in Culinary Competitions at the state level resulting in students receiving scholarships to many of the most renowned Culinary Schools in the Nation. Her student competitors have qualified at the National level in both Culinary and Restaurant Management. She has seen many of her students succeed in the culinary industry as restaurant managers, executive chefs, and cooks as well as complete their degrees from full-ride scholarships to Monroe Culinary School in New York, as a result of successfully completing her program.
As a Culinary Instructor here at Barry Goldwater High School she continues to teach students how to succeed at competitions in order to open more doors of opportunities for them. In 2019, Esther Castillo became an Adjunct Professor for NAU (Northern Arizona University) teaching in the Hotel and Restaurant Management Program. In 2020, BGHS Culinary Arts was recognized as the ACTEAZ Outstanding CTE Program of the Year!