High school was a disaster. The last day I attended was an emotional void. I left school that day with a complete loss of confidence. I felt useless, stupid, and alone.
During the brief time I was out of school my high school counselors worked on options to try and save me.
The high school called my mom early in December to give her an update on my school struggles. At least some people in my orbit were concerned about me.
The administrators and counselors wanted to set up a meeting to share with my mom some options that they felt could help me with my struggles. I can safely say that she was not happy with me at this point in my life. And what she did not see was that I was not happy being me.
I was also required to attend the meeting and I wondered why.
The day of the meeting came just before the holiday break. When we walked into the meeting room, I felt surrounded by all the people I saw in the room. At that point I wanted to run to the door to escape. But I didn’t.
I sat down in the seat I was assigned to next to my mom.
During the meeting one of the options presented was for me to go to a high school vocational program to continue my high school education. At first this did not sound like it would be acceptable to me until they noted that one of the programs at the school was a culinary program which was recommended for me.
I love cooking.
I remember that during one of my counseling meetings earlier in November when I was getting into trouble, I was asked what profession I might be interested in. My response was, “Cooking.” I didn’t know what else to say.
So, this option captured my attention when it was presented. And learning the art of cooking to become a chef was an exciting thought. I was told that Las Vegas needed a lot of Chef’s so job opportunities would be abundant.
I quickly agreed to everyone’s surprise.
One of the school counselors contacted the vocational school while we were in the meeting, and after his call I was informed that I could start in January after the holiday break. My mom had to agree with this because she would have to take me to the school and pick me up at the end of the day.
She agreed and the meeting ended.
The holiday break gave me a chance to reflect on this new journey with what my future could become. And to reflect on the journeys I have already experienced.
My mom and I had several discussions during the holiday break on what this chance could mean for me. I finally received some true encouragement from my mom which was a bit new for the moment.
The holiday break went by quickly.
It was now January and I was starting this new school with a new hope. And that hope was for things to get better in my life.
I know that others have been down in life and they made it to adulthood. And knowing this helped me to become determined to succeed. I had a lot of darkness to bring back into the light. I knew I could do it since I had to recover from my down times in the past.
And now it was time to start my new school adventure.
I remember arriving at the school and being walked to the culinary kitchen and introduced to the head chef. This kitchen would be where most of my new education will take place and where my cooking classes were going to be conducted.
I would also have to take other core classes, and they were in other parts of the building. I was not looking forward to those classes.
The instructors of the culinary program were an elderly French chef and his younger assistant. And the French chef smoked heavily. He smoked in the kitchen during class. Basically, he smoked everywhere he went. We always knew where he was by the smoke trail.
And all the other students in class also smoked including me now. And we had to smoke outside in a designated area.
For the first week of class I was playing catch-up to the other students and with the basic cooking skills taught in the fall classes.
I also had to go buy a full-culinary kitchen uniform and a small chef’s hat that was floppy. Only the head chef was allowed to have a starched hat that was very tall which signified his importance. I learned to look at the height of the chefs’ hat to know their status.
And I had to buy a professional knife set. So, picture a group of high school students in class with extra sharp knives in their hands. What could possibly happen?
Nothing!
Believe it or not, all of us students were very responsible.
One of the first things I had to learn was how to sharpen my chef’s knife with a steel sharpener. I will say that my left thumb was constantly in bandages because I kept slicing it when practicing this skill.
But I did get better without any stitches needed. But I did have visible scars.
As the weeks went on, I learned a lot about the art of cooking. I was getting exposure to the many specialized components in the culinary industry. And I was doing very well with my baking skills. I really enjoyed this part of my new adventure.
During the winter term our culinary school was charged with preparing food for one of the school’s big springtime celebrations. It was billed as the school’s Spring Break BBQ. And other organizations would also be providing other food choices for the event.
On the morning of the BBQ event, we had to get to school extra early. When I arrived, I learned that we needed to start preparing the meat for 2,000 sloppy joes in this giant tilting cooking kettle.
Plus, we were going to make fresh French fries which meant that we had to peel about 100 pounds of potatoes and then cut them into the familiar shape for precooking and then cooking.
You might think that peeling that quantity of potatoes would take all day. It was done in only a few minutes in the giant potato peeler machine that we had in the kitchen.
We were thrilled that the buns were being brought in for this event. We didn’t have to make them.
All the cooking for this special event had to be completed before noon.
And I will note that the school’s kitchen was set up like a kitchen that you would find in any of the major hotels on the Las Vegas strip. Sometimes we would have guest chefs come in from several major hotels to help teach classes. This impressed me.
As the term proceeded to the summer break, I remember thinking about how this opportunity was changing my outlook on life.
And I do want to add that I have continued with my bowling, and I am now average between 170 and 180 with many of my games in the 200’s.
What I needed now was another real job to make some money. I thought that maybe the summer would be a good time for me to seek a job, maybe in the culinary industry at one of the major hotels.
I talked with my mom about this thought, and she said she would make some inquiries on my behalf. I knew she was highly liked by the various hotel management groups. Getting a job with her help was important.
And some other changes would happen during the summer as well.
So, I will say that my young life never has had too many dull moments. I have had many challenges requiring a recovery that have reinforced my coping and growth mechanisms in my preteen years and teenage years.
And after this new experience and challenge, I will never give in to being down again.
Nope…
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