Culinary Arts Organization Provides Opportunities For High School Students

Foundation for Culinary Arts is hosting Yes, Chef! Camp in March. PHOTO BY ERIC KLEINBERG.
Foundation for Culinary Arts is hosting Yes, Chef! Camp in March. PHOTO BY ERIC KLEINBERG.

Culinary Arts Organization Provides Opportunities For High School Students

By Tia Carol Jones

High school students interested in the culinary arts have the opportunity to enroll in camps hosted by the Foundation for Culinary Arts. 

The Foundation for Culinary Arts was founded in 2008 as a scholarship organization to provide support for college students attending culinary school. When Catherine De Orio became Executive Director, she wanted to make a bigger impact in the culinary industry by having a program for high school students.  In 2016, the Foundation for Culinary Arts launched the Yes, Chef! Camp. Each year, the organization serves about 100 students a year through its camps.

The new season kicks off on March 9th, with the Yes, Chef! Camp, which will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Chopping Block, 4747 N. Lincoln Ave. The camp is for students in their sophomore year and higher. Students will receive hands-on instruction from professional chefs on how to create sweet and savory dishes.

There are five camps that take place throughout the year and the Foundation for Culinary Arts works with students from across the Chicagoland area from disinvested communities who have financial need. De Orio said having the camps provides opportunities for students who because of financial need and lack of access might not be able to otherwise participate in these kinds of activities. 

The students in the camps receive vocational training in the culinary tract, as well as transferable life skills, including nutrition and how to cook a meal. De Orio said the students also learn organization and team building.

“We just really felt like high school students were the right target because that is where passion gets snuffed out. You’re so vulnerable as a teenager and especially if you don’t have the support, financial and/ or social. That’s where we thought maybe we could do some good work here,” she said.

Another camp will take place on March 26th, where students who participate will learn how to make pasta. The summer boot camp will take place in August, and two fall camps. One of the fall camps is a community class where the students and a parent or guardian will learn how to make a Thanksgiving meal. The other fall camp is holiday baking.

The Foundation for Culinary Arts is helping increase diversity in the culinary industry by providing foundational training through the camps, as well as making connections with the participants and people in the industry. De Orio said the curriculum for the camps is based on culinary school curriculum and gives students what they need to know starting out in a kitchen.

“They’re able to be immediately productive and start having those skills honed by their chefs that they are working under and the team they work with in the kitchen,” she said.

De Orio said bridging relationships between the student participants and restaurants is important because it gives those students access to internships and stages. Last year, Foundation for Culinary Arts paired their students with five James Beard recognized chefs and they created a menu and prepped the dishes and served the dishes at a brunch. She said that access helps the students make that leap into a career in the culinary arts.

De Orio said a testament to the quality of the camps is that students want to return to the camps and participate in multiple camps throughout the year. She added that students who participate in the camps receive a kitchen kit, with cooking tools, utensils and equipment, so they can practice what they learned at camp.

For more information about Foundation for Culinary Arts, visit https://foundationforculinaryarts.org. To apply for Yes, Chef! Camp, visit tinyurl.com/ywnk3mus.


Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

Geneba Tequila- Ingrid LaVon