Ms. Barnett is known for her worldly teachings, expressive lessons, and soulful food. Her remarkable methods have given her students the opportunity to continue on to properly help out during family dinners, prepare daily delicacies for friends, or even open their own restaurants! Even if you have not taken her class, it is hard to ignore the delicious smells from her classroom that always waft throughout the hallways. This Friday, Mrs. Barnett will be retiring after 25 years of memorable moments at Harriton. It will be hard to imagine our school without her irreplaceable recipes, unique patience and wisdom.

HB: What kept you at Harriton for 25 years? Did you ever consider switching jobs throughout your time here?

DB: The kids and the love of learning- both for the kids and for myself. In 1996, I almost considered leaving because I created a dog biscuit called Mrs. T’s Bones and it won the Best of Philly award-they were all natural dog biscuits. It was almost at the point where I either had to quit the dog biscuit [making] and keep teaching or quit teaching and make dog biscuits because it got too large. I decided that I love the kids and what I was doing more than being a merchant. I loved inventing the dog biscuits, I loved marketing the dog biscuits and I like the fact that they sold- but once I created the product, [I realized that] I didn’t really want to be a merchant- I liked interacting with kids.

HB: Where were you before Harriton?

DB: I was a women’s apparel buyer for Mary Sachs in Harrisburg first and then Alite stores. So I bought women’s sports wear- blouses, skirts, pants, and sweaters…. Then I was a stay-at-home mom for eight years. And then I started at Harriton High School, when my children were in kindergarten and second grade.

HB: So, what brought you to Harriton for the first time?

DB: Well, my ex- husband was working for a company that went chapter 11, and I needed to go to work to help the family financially, and I had applied for jobs. I had three job offers at the time- one at East High in West Chester, one at Phoenixville, and one at Harriton High School. A girlfriend of mine whose children lived in the Lower Merion School District said that I needed to take the one at Lower Merion because I would be really happy. I mean- I do feel really happy- I feel like I died and went to school heaven. She was right, and it was the best decision of my life.

HB: What do you think you are going to miss most about Harriton?

DB: I’m going to miss my friends. I’m going to miss the kids- and their enthusiasm. I’m going to miss the problem solving with students, like Walden P. Manuel or Alon Shaya, or Allison Schwartz that have food blogs and that have issues and chem problems. And I’m going to miss my lab- my foods room lab- because I love to be able to do all the prep work, and have all the supplies, and countertops, and things like that.

HB: Do you think your students have changed throughout your experience here? How (if at all)?

DB: Yes. I think that food is more of a status symbol, and because of television, and you know- Iron Chef, and Chopped, and cookbooks- students who might have not taken a foods class in the past will take the class, just because it is part of the social network; It may not be their career, they may not need it for life skills, but it is now part of the social scheme. So in that regard- yes, students have changed.

HB: What were your most memorable moments (people, students) here?

DB: That’s really hard- there are so many! Gosh… Okay, let’s see. Memorable moments- school enabled me to go to Le Cordon Bleu in Florence to do my post-grad work, while I was teaching… they allowed me to go to New Orleans to work with my student and do a documentary film (that was four years ago). To move into a new building, after 20 years of working in an older building… To do the community service project of the ginger bread houses for the People’s Emergency Center and the homeless women & children. To have the support of the faculty, when my son Mathew was being treated for cancer, and when Mrs. Adams and Ms. Gehret took my cats, and when Mr. O’Brien picked up my dry cleaning, and pulled the weeds in my yard; People put gas-cards, and Visas, tickets, and money into my mailbox. [It gave me] the knowledge that I was truly in a ‘family’- at work as well as at home. Also, during the death of my stepson, Nicholas, the faculty came to the funeral and to the house, brought meals, and typed my lesson plans, and really helped in everyway that they could. Those would be memorable moments. Memorable people- I’d have to say, Irene Bender- who allowed me to go to Italy and do my post graduate work at the Cordon Bleu, Steve Barbado and Joey Ryder-Burtran- who found the funding for me to go to New Orleans and complete a documentary film with my student, Nort Seaman- who realized that every child wanted to be somewhere, and rather than giving them detentions, would place them with the teachers who they wanted to spend time with to allow their gifts to grow… Joel DiBartolomeo for his academic learning community, Steve Klein- for getting the building up and functioning (which was a herculean task). Lauren Marcuson- for her advocacy of my department and her support. Staff both current and retired whose help I couldn’t have done without would be Rhonda Keefer, Karen Corkery, Irene Adams, Mary Beth Gehret, Mike Perrone, Rick Petrondi, Gladys Freidman, Terry O’ Connor, Paul McKenna, Christine Neville,  Sandy McFadden,Justin Occhiogosso, Angela Wood, Joe DiPaul, Marissa Passalaqua, John Duvernois, Laura Labrinakos, Diane Berkman, Mahmoud Hussein, Gary Plumer, Mariana Padilla-Telfer- who was one of my first students and now she is a teacher here, Susan Gross- who took me to France on an exchange trip, Tom O’Brien- who I had an incredible time with in Guatemala and Honduras, Heidi Cook, Laura Vogel, Jesse Rappaport, Kim Moyer, Jamison Warren, Phyllis Kent, Danny Fulginetti, Patty Stevenson, Linda Collins, Tim  Hockersmith , and so many other staff and faculty members who I appreciate so much. So many students have touched my heart, that it would be impossible to name them all- there are so many that I will never forget; ones that have gone through school and are now grown men and women with families who I would love to see again and find out how they are.

HB: If you could redo your experience your Harriton, do you think you would change anything about it?

DB: I don’t think so… I have wishes; I wish that we could use our garden-which Mr. Ferraro does an amazing job with-to teach kids the farm to table movement. I mean, we do use some herbs, and tomatoes, but we should use more organic foods- which are healthier- if we had unlimited funding, but I don’t think that there is anything [that I would change]. I do wish that I would have been able to take more field trips, and take students who had a strong interest in foods to let’s say… a butchering class or bread-baking class, or auxiliary classes, that we don’t have the ability to teach at a public high school.

HB: Is there any advice that you would like to give the new foods teacher?

DB: Never underestimate the ability of your students to rise to the occasion. Be kind, be fair, be excited, and be innovative.

HB: How do you want your students to remember you and your class in the future?

DB: I want them to remember me singing, and that cooking is a gift of love. That anyone can buy you dinner, but to make it is a gift, not only to yourself but also to all of those who you feed. It has been my pleasure to ‘feed’ your mind and your body.

HB: What do you plan to do after leaving Harriton?

DB: Actually, one of my students-Alon Shaya, who I trained, is a chef in New Orleans at Dominica. Along with him and Michael Solomonov, who is the chef at Zahav, Federal Donuts, and Abe Fisher I am going on a culinary trip to Israel with these two chefs and a few of their friends for two weeks. So I will be cooking in Israel at different restaurants, and I am very excited about that. I volunteer at the Neighborhood League in Wayne, which is a consignment shop. This is my twelfth year volunteering, but I am now going two days a week. The money goes for visiting nurses for the elderly at Peter’s Place for grieving children and families, and Timothy’s school for autism. I’m going to be helping my elderly parents in Hershey, and will be helping them with driving and cooking. I’ll be seeing my grandbaby in Boston, and my son in Los Angeles, and I am hoping to go on a culinary tour of India next year for two weeks.

HB: Personal Statement.

DB: I always tell my students that I think I was destined to be a Foods teacher because I was born on Chocolate Av. in Hershey, Pennsylvania. […] And I always say that the Foods class is like the Hokey Pokey clinic where you come to turn your self around! Leave you attitude at the door-because how can you have a bad attitude while eating good food?