Former Kimball High School graduate earns culinary award, has future plans for restaurant in Kimball

A former Kimball High School graduate, Hunter Baliman, received the Spirit of Mitchell Technical Institute Award during his recent graduation ceremony from Mitchell Technical Institute in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Baliman received the award for his exemplary work while attending the Culinary Academy of South Dakota, a program within the institute. According to Baliman, this was no easy feat as the award is given to a student who does as much as possible for the good of the program over the two years that students are part of the culinary academy.

“I did almost anything I could for community service, and I went to as many banquets that they had to help out with. I wanted to get the most out of my two years of culinary school as I possibly could so I was there at 7:30 every morning when we didn’t have to be there until 8:30, and I was there until 5 o’clock at night when we were out of school at three. I was also always talking with my instructors to try and learn more,” Baliman said.

Though, Baliman had put in a lot of hard work, he had absolutely no inclination that he would be the one chosen for the award. Baliman only found out during the ceremony when he was nudged by the girl sitting next to him, informing him that his name had been called.

“I stand up, and I’m looking around. I walk up to the stage and the dean of the school is standing there handing out these awards. I grab it, and I shake his hand. I ask, ‘What is this?’ He says, ‘Just walk over there and take a picture and then you can read it,’” Baliman said.

After reaching the other side of the stage and having a moment to look down at the award, it became clear to Baliman what had just happened.

“I was really surprised when I got it. I was not expecting it at all. When I turned it around and started reading it I thought, ‘Well, sweet. I must have done something right in my two years there,’” Baliman said.

The award came with another unexpected perk in the form of a $300 scholarship that his instructor handed him in the lobby after the graduation ceremony. However, Baliman had already repaid all of his student loans.

“I didn’t have any debt to the school so I told him that I had already paid my student loans and everything. He told me that I could use it to pay for my internship, because we still have to pay for our internship like it’s a class so that’s what it will go to,” Baliman said.

Baliman will be working at a lodge in Grand Lake, Colorado where he will fulfill his 360 hours of work required for his internship. In the future, he plans to use everything that he learned while attending the culinary academy to open up his own restaurant.

“I really do want to open a place here in Kimball that has good food for people to go to. People travel to Rock Ranch to go eat good food. I want Pine [Bluffs] people to travel here to come to eat good food. If there is a good food place around, they will travel to go to it,” Baliman said.

However, Baliman admits that there are a few more steps that need to be taken before it is feasible to achieve his ultimate goal.

“That’s probably three to five years down the road now. It kind of depends on what happens in these next couple years. I have to go through my internship and get that done. After that, I’m working down at the cattle company. As soon as I get as much as I want to out of those two places getting experience and whatnot then I’ll start looking into opening up a place around here,” Baliman said.