This past spring, high school students participated in the Teen Culinary Apprenticeship Pilot, a program created to sharpen their cooking and leadership skills. Whitney Reuling, director of food and nutrition programs for Children’s Aid, runs the program at Hope Leadership Academy. She aims to empower high school students not only to cook nutritious meals, but also to teach their peers how to make healthy choices.
At the end of the three-month pilot program, which is supported by the Pinkerton Foundation, each student was placed at a Children’s Aid summer camp site, where they assist Go!Chefs cooking classes for 5- and 6-year-old campers. To prepare for their summer jobs, students took turns presenting short lessons to their class about the importance of protein and how to identify healthy, protein-rich foods such as beans, meat, and dairy.
“I heard that we’d be working with kids and I love kids, so I don’t mind passing down the learning,” said Shaniya White, a sophomore in the program.
After the lesson, the group used their newfound knowledge to prepare simple protein-rich meals—pita chips with hummus and falafel sandwiches with cucumbers and tomatoes.
“I didn’t know that vegetarian food tastes so good,” said Chris Daza, a junior who was inspired to enroll in the program after he entered the annual Children’s Aid Iron Go!Chefs cooking competition.
Whitney, who created the curriculum for the program and will provide this opportunity as a year-long apprenticeship next year, said the Teen Culinary Apprenticeship Pilot helps teenagers hone their culinary skills, create healthy eating habits, and carries benefits both in and beyond the classroom.
“We’re building out life skills—leadership, communication, responsibility—and training them to be leaders in their own communities around healthy eating,” she said.
Wagon Road Camp
A Community Supports a Great Summer Experience
Children’s Aid makes certain that learning doesn’t stop over the summer, providing opportunities outside of the classroom at sites in Harlem, Washington Heights, the South Bronx, and northern Staten Island. Each summer, 400 children and youth from New York City and Westchester County get those opportunities and many more unique summer experiences in the airy outdoors at our Wagon Road Camp, in Chappaqua.
At Wagon Road, children learn to swim and play soccer; take art, cooking, music, and dance classes; ride horses; try our zip line and adventure ropes courses; and do so much more. When campers return to their families at the end of each day, and then finally at the end of the summer, they’ve gained experiences, made new friends, and built confidence.
Summers at Wagon Road Camp are made possible through private support, and we are so grateful for the generosity of donors like you. This past spring a committee of dedicated local volunteers brought their friends and family together for our 3rd Annual Wagon Road Fundraiser with a goal of sending 10 campers to Wagon Road this summer. Camp Director Vince Canziani and two former Wagon Road campers, Sa’Mya Sewell and Elijah Colone, now counselors, spoke to nearly 100 guests from Chappaqua and the surrounding communities about how Wagon Road helps children to learn, grow, and become leaders in their own lives.
Want to help our Wagon Road campers build new skills in a caring, safe camp community? You can contribute to this unique Children’s Aid program and guarantee that young people have summers to remember.
News 12 The Bronx:
Farmers Markets Won't Take EBT by End of August
New York Nonprofit Media:
Here's the Latest of What's Going on in Youth Development
Youth Today: