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My name is Brian Knirk.
I am department chair for culinary
arts and hospitality management.
Community College students graduate
with opportunities at every level
of restaurant management and culinary.
Most of them, if they choose
to go into culinary,
are going to become line cooks in restaurants.
It's an entry level position, to be honest.
But what a Community College education does
is it gives them the opportunity to fast track
to get to that next level, that management,
that sous chef faster than if they were to try
and work theirselves through the ranks.
A lot of my friends want to go on to be
executive chefs at high-end restaurants.
Some of them just want to
get out in the culinary field
and see how far they can go working
in kitchens or, you know, fine dining.
I'm aspiring to be a personal chef where I go
to families or I cater events that, you know,
customers will call to ask me to
specifically be a chef for them.
The classes that you would take at a
Community College in order to become a chef
or a line cook are going to range from very
basic introductory cooking, how to hold a knife,
how to grill, how to roast, how to
saute, to introductory baking and pastry
and more advanced classes as you're
making pastas and making your stocks
and learning how to cook for a restaurant.
Additionally, they're going to learn the
management side because this is a business.
They're going to learn some marketing.
They're going to learn purchasing and
other aspects of actual running a business.
This program is so great.
They teach you from beginning to end.
You don't really have to come in here and
know how to slice and know how to cook.
You don't even necessarily
have to know how to boil water.
The only thing I think you
need is a desire to learn.
What's very important for graduates who go
into this industry is having a good attitude.
And if you put the effort
in with a good attitude
and some basic knife skills,
you can be successful.
I knew I loved to cook, but I didn't
know I really enjoyed it that much.
I didn't know it could be so fun.
I come here every day and I'm almost
upset when it's time to go home.
Seriously.
I love to be here.
I wouldn't change it for the world.
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