The first day of school in Hillsborough County is a week away, but some students are already back to work.
Chamberlain High School's culinary students arrived at their school on Monday to prepare appetizers and dinner for hundreds of teachers in the district.
The dinner was a kickoff for the school year and implementation of the $100 million grant the district received last year from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant is going toward teacher mentoring and evaluations with the goal to improve teaching methods.
The Chamberlain students were back early this morning to prepare breakfast for their school's teachers, who are preparing for the upcoming year. More than 150 teens are enrolled in Chamberlain's culinary program, which regularly caters banquets and serves lunches to staff in a school café styled like Outback Steakhouse.
Senior Kim Patrick never stopped working on her summer break. Patrick, 17, participated in an internship program through Chamberlain this summer at GrillSmith restaurant in Carrollwood. Besides working in the kitchen there, Patrick converted recipes to a new system that GrillSmith wants to use that lists the weights of each ingredient.
Her internship ended this month, but the restaurant will continue to employ her part time. Patrick hopes to go to college and own a restaurant one day. She started as a hostess at a restaurant in eighth grade but never had the chance to work in the kitchen until this summer. She did prep work for salads and desserts at GrillSmith.
"It meant a lot to me, because no one had ever told me I'd be able to work in a kitchen," she said.
Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (727) 451-2343.
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