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Railroad Street Youth Project Culinary Program03:18PM / Friday, March 06, 2009
Three years after Railroad Street Youth Project and local restaurants launched the RSYP Culinary Arts Program, the semi-annual after-school course has gained notoriety and is attracting celebrating chefs on a national level.
This semester’s program will feature dinners at Pearl’s Restaurant on Mondays March 23, 30 and April 6, with the final dinner being overseen by Barbara Lynch, the chef/owner of five acclaimed restaurants in Boston. The advanced level 2 students under the supervision of sous chef Eric Morse of The Red Lion Inn and Christopher Brooks of Blantyre will oversee the first two dinners.
“We have more students than ever this semester,” says RSYP Program Director Melissa McGarrity. “This program has been featured on Good Morning America and Bobby Flay’s Grill It! on The Food Network, but the reason it is important is the difference it makes in the lives of the teenagers who participate in it.”
McGarrity said 13 students from South County schools are taking part in the Level I course at Pearl’s Restaurant and four students are in the Level 2 course at The Red Lion Inn. Level 1 students learn the basics of kitchen work from Pearl’s chef Creighton Peet, The Red Lion Inn chef Brian Alberg and program graduate Nick Heller who assists Peet in teaching the class. Level 2 students are graduates of the primer course who learn a higher level of skills with The Red Lion Inn chef Brian Alberg and sous chef Eric Morse.
“Students in Level 1 have an interest in a culinary career; students in Level 2 are making a commitment to it,” McGarrity says. “They’re learning what it’s really like to work in a kitchen. We’ve had students who went on to culinary school and who want to pursue a career, whether it’s starting their own restaurant or a bakery or becoming a professional chef.”
The Culinary Arts Program was the first and largest apprenticeship program started by RSYP. Michele’s Salon and Day Spa offers a cosmetology program twice a year for area teenagers. Several businesses and organizations have developed individual apprenticeships with RSYP around the interests of young people. Students from area high schools are often referred to RSYP for the program because they show an interest in culinary arts or struggle to become engaged in academic classes.
“This is a private-public partnership that works for our kids and our community,” says Sean Flynn, guidance counselor at Monument Mountain Regional High School. “In a tight fiscal time when we are looking for ways to teach our kids skills they can use and ways of working as professionals, Railroad Street Youth Project has consistently found ways to match kids with local businesses.”
More than 50 young people have taken part in the program, which is broken down into 8-week courses. The program is open to people ages 14 to 21 at no charge.
“This has become a community development program and an opportunity for kids to learn how to be professionals and to think of themselves as having a career,” McGarrity says.
The community dinners at Pearl’s Restaurant will be:
Monday, March 23, led by The Red Lion Inn sous chef Eric Morse working with a menu designed by students from the Level 2 program.
Monday, March 30, led by Blantyre chef Christopher Brooks.
Monday, April 6, led by Boston celebrity chef Barbara Lynch, the owner of five prominent restaurants in Boston including No. 9 Park, B & G Oysters, The Butcher Shop, and Plum Produce. This dinner is sponsored in part by Rubiner’s Cheesemongers and Grocers.
Dinners cost $60 and require reservations that can be made by either contacting Pearl’s at 413-528-7767 or online at pearlsrestaurant.com (2 to 4 people only). All proceeds go to supporting the costs of the program.
RSYP is also holding a raffle that will be drawn on April 25. The prizes will be a signed limited edition book by Walton Ford. There will be a silent auction at the April 6 dinner, featuring and a week-long stay at a family-friendly house in Sterling, Alaska, by a glacial river in a stunning setting.
For more information on RSYP programs, contact Melissa McGarrity, Program Director at 413-528-2475. |
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