Edgar Cordova, a rising 12th grader at Xavier High School in Union Square, has spent his summer working in a school kitchen — bagging milk, cleaning tables, and cutting up fruit. But even though he’s surrounded by cooking constantly, he said he was excited to see a firsthand demonstration tailored to students, creating a clear path into a culinary career.

Last month, he sat among roughly a dozen students in a kitchen at Essex Market, a food hall on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, watching as Chef Lily Chin mixed gochujang, honey, water, and vinegar for a sauce for bibimbop, a Korean rice dish.

Though Cordova isn’t doing much cooking in his current position, he added, “Maybe, if I practice more in the kitchen, I’ll improve.”

Cordova is one of about 150 students who found work as a culinary aide through this year’s Summer Youth Employment Program, a New York City program that connects young people between the ages of 14 and 24 to paid work experiences in July and August. Employment through the program has offered Cordova more than just the chance to improve his cooking skills — it’s given him income that he can put toward college and the future.

“I’ve been trying to save it up as much as I can,” he said.

Exploring a Culinary Career Path in the Summer Youth Employment Program

For decades, the Summer Youth Employment Program, also known as SYEP, has provided the city’s youth with paid opportunities to explore potential career pathways. In recent years, it’s also expanded, with Mayor Eric Adams adding 25,000 seats in 2022 — bringing it up to 100,000 spots in total. Last year, the program also made a commitment to matching LGBTQ+ youth with “supportive work opportunities.”

City officials say the program can improve school attendance, reduce incarceration rates, and help keep young people safe over the course of the summer.

Cordova and other SYEP participants attended the cooking demonstration in late July as part of a series of four professional development days for those employed as culinary aides in New York City public school kitchens. These events were organized by the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy. (Adams has repeatedly emphasized the importance of healthy eating, and has included steering kids toward a better diet among his policy initiatives.)

Read the full article about culinary career paths by Julian Shen-Berro at Chalkbeat.