A Medicine Hat chef taught kids to cook — then put their dessert on his menu

The Medicine Hat Public School Division has named Koch, a local chef and restaurant owner, as a recipient of its 2025-2026 Friends of Education Award, an honour reserved for community members whose support meaningfully shapes the lives of students, according to MHPSD's official announcement. Koch's work has touched three schools — Dr. Ken Sauer Fine Arts School, George Davison School, and Dr. Roy Wilson Learning Centre — through projects that go well beyond a one-off classroom visit.

At George Davison School and Dr. Roy Wilson Learning Centre, Koch has spent time supporting a multidisciplinary project centred on food security and community building, giving students hands-on kitchen experience while introducing them to the role food plays in bringing people together. That work also deepened the division's ties with local organizations like The Root Cellar and Community Food Connections, opening up further chances for students to learn and contribute outside the classroom.

The more striking piece of Koch's work has unfolded over the past two years at Dr. Ken Sauer Fine Arts School, where he's worked with Grade 5 and 6 students on a culinary project that stretches across writing, visual design, public speaking, presentation skills and entrepreneurial thinking. Students were tasked with designing an original dessert while working within the same criteria a real restaurant would use. Koch and his sister and business partner, Jen Attfield, then took the idea seriously enough to feature a student-designed dessert on their own restaurant's menu — turning a classroom exercise into something a sixth-grader could genuinely point to and say, "I made that, and people paid for it."

"Adam's ability to connect learning to real world experiences has made a lasting impact on our students," said Laura Gale, principal of Dr. Ken Sauer Fine Arts School, in the division's announcement. "His generosity, creativity, and dedication to education have created opportunities that students will remember for years to come."

According to the division, Koch has never sought recognition or compensation for any of it — which makes an award like this less a formality and more a simple acknowledgment of work that was already happening quietly in the background.