Milby High School culinary arts teacher Carlos Ramos isn’t just teaching students how to cook. He’s teaching them how to earn a living in the restaurant industry. Ramos is reimagining the way culinary arts should be taught thanks to an innovative kitchen and restaurant space in the new Milby High School, which was rebuilt under the 2012 Bond Program. Rather than simply preparing and serving food, Milby culinary students are running a restaurant — the only one in HISD — and getting real-world experience in the process. Tasks are assigned as they would be in a for-profit restaurant. Students cook the main entrée, greet and serve guests, and inventory food in the walk-in coolers. The spaces provide dual functions. Preparation tables become a place for small-group instruction, while the ’50s-style dining room — complete with projectors and smart boards — transforms into a lecture hall. Ramos will tell you there is more to running a restaurant than just cooking. He’s serving up life lessons for the generations to come.