why a chef
it's just
it's in your blood
once you've got the passion
or we call it the juice
uh... it's hard to give up
it's hard to give up
our culinary arts apprenticeship program
is in fact a degreed program as well as
a journeyman status on-the-job training
program
uh... the program is a sixty two credit
program
students work six thousand hours
of on the on-the-job training in nine areas
of concentration
everything from stewarting and washing
dishes all the way up to being lead
sous chef
so by the time they graduate they are
sous chef status or second-in-command
journeyman status
over a hundred and thirty students
apprentices
and we have about seventy sponsoring
houses within a ninety mile radius
local chefs here and the
local food service establishments
uh... realize that if you're in this
program
you're serious is not just a jobs
you're leading down a career path
you're given  some more responsibility and kind of
helped along the way to uh... advance
wherever you're at 
specifically because
you're in the program
where we differ from the traditional
culinary school is
our students come one day a week for
theory
and for their labs
the rest of the time to actually
working with
journeyman chefs and executive chefs
honing their skills
the classical training
in the lab and classroom
from certified instructors
but you're also
learning how it really works out in the
field
culinary schools lots of
students go five days a week and they
have classes and they take their labs
we throw our students to the wolves
right off the bat 
I've worked at several
different places, everything from
country clubs to
banquet facilities. Right now
i'm 
at a local stakehouse. 
Our students are geared towards
the hands-on learning
and they get it, they get it
our instructors are all industry people
who come to class
and teach a class one day a week
and the rest of the time they are
actually out
industries
uh... training
other people and running and running a
business
there's a, there's a lot of good
restaurants in the area, a lot of good chefs
i've learned from some of 
the best chefs in the area here
it's been an excellent experience
in fact a lot of the uh... chefs that I've worked for,
who are in the field, I've also had as an
instructors at the school here as well
apprenticeship is earn while you learn
uh... we have uh... non-traditional
students who still have to pay the rent
they have children, they have
gas and light bills
so it is earn while you learn
they are actually paid a wage
while they uh... while they train
so when they when they graduate they
have a journeyman and an associates degree
and they're ready to go
this program allows you, you know, the ability
to make a living while
going to school
and that if it's applicable to what
you're going to school for
an executive chef that's
interviewing and hiring
would much rather have someone
who is has been in the field knows the
equipment, knows the sense of urgency
versus someone who comes out with 
book smarts
i'll match my students against culinary
school graduates any day of the week 
I would, i would much prefer an
apprenticeship program
uh... where it's a
instructor based training in a lab
setting
in conjunction with actual
on-the-job training i i think that's
that's definitely the best way to go
were making journeyman chefs
capable
of going anywhere in the united states
and within a matter of days
be able to throw down with the 
best of them
