It is said that the kitchen is the heart of the home.
A love for cooking makes this even more true.
As a culinary enthusiast, Baylee McKinney has gravitated toward the kitchen since she was a young girl growing up in Tonkawa, Oklahoma.
Being the oldest of six children, she was responsible for planning and making the meals for her family.
“I’ve really just enjoyed a lot of baking early on, and so I’d watch the Food Network,” McKinney said. “I’d try and jot down all the recipes as fast as I possibly could, so that I could work on them with my family and make them try it out. But that’s where my passion for cooking really began, probably when I was like 10 or 12.”
That interest fueled her decision to learn more about culinary practices.
Now, she’s a part-time graduate student in the MPS Hospitality Administration program at Missouri State.
A dish best served with a degree
Before her time at MSU, McKinney graduated from College of the Ozarks with a bachelor's in culinary arts.
While there, McKinney’s advisor encouraged her to be an adjunct instructor.
“I was able to teach two classes at College of the Ozarks after I’d graduated,” McKinney said. “Through that process, I learned that I really, really loved teaching, and I love developing people.”
Her newfound interest in teaching spurred her motivation to dive into graduate-level studies.
“Having a master’s, I can teach at the college level, which is also a passion that I didn’t know I had until after graduating from college,” she said. “And so that’s been the driving force, as of recently, is to get to that point of where I can teach at the college level.”
McKinney was curious about how her advisor earned her position at the college.
Her advisor said that she went to Missouri State and encouraged McKinney to consider the hospitality program at MSU.
“She really helped set me on the right track to get to where I needed to go,” McKinney said.
In 2022, McKinney followed in her advisor’s footsteps and began pursuing her master’s degree as a Bear.
“I have the culinary side of my bachelor’s already. So, I was really needing to work on the hospitality side of things, and Missouri State had a great program for that. It was highly recommended, so it just seemed like the natural way to go.”
Meal planning is her bread and butter
McKinney currently manages the meal operations at an assisted living facility for Erickson Senior Living in Overland Park, Kansas.
The facility has a kitchen, which simultaneously operates three restaurants.
McKinney is in charge of creating menus and facilitating day-to-date processes for the restaurants.
Her education in culinary arts and hospitality has provided her with a solid foundation in her career field, and the proof is in the pudding.
However, having a full-time job while earning your degree is a balancing act.
Her MSU advisor, Warren Frerichs, has been careful to make sure McKinney’s schedule is manageable for her.
“My advisor, Warren, has been really awesome. He’s helped me get through the process of this, and he understands working full-time and going to school,” McKinney said. “He’s been really understanding in that whole process, which has been really helpful.”
Leading with flavor
In her courses, McKinney is learning about different leadership styles in the hospitality sector.
These concepts are relevant to McKinney, because she can now identify the leadership styles in her workplace and recognize how some work well together while others don’t.
“That has had an impact on me where I can kind of look at where my leadership style is, and I can actually apply what I am learning in class to make the work for myself and my employees better. And I can learn to better develop the people that I am working with,” she said.
McKinney is set to graduate in December 2024.
She is still trying to decide if she wants to continue her education or take time off school to focus on her work.
Regardless, McKinney is excited to get her master’s degree and to savor this season of her life.
