Spicing up futures: Chef Tawana and TeenWorks serve up Culinary Bootcamp

Ten-hut! Drop and give me twenty, soldiers! Not twenty push-ups! Twenty sliced onions! Now make it thirty! Chef Tawana M. Gulley partnered up with TeenWorks to provide 36 highschoolers with hands-on learning at their Culinary Arts Bootcamp. Four days per week at the AMP at 16 Tech, the bootcamp provided students with six weeks of training from June 5 through July 12. The partnership between Gulley and TeenWorks began last year at the first culinary bootcamp. Hosting 36 students this year, the bootcamp’s mission is to empower young students to work hard and have entrepreneurial spirit. Students at the bootcamp taste test the lemonade they made. (Photo/Tawana M. Gulley) “Our goal is to not only help them figure out what they want to do as far as a career and/or college, but we’re really big on having a community for students,” said Dieria Moore, director of summer programs at TeenWorks. “For a majority of our students, this is their first job, which is really cool because it’s kind of a structured way to introduce students to the workforce.” Gulley is the founder and executive chef of Healthy Soul, a restaurant in the AMP that specializes in pesticide-free and organic foods....