The Alumni Board of Directors recently announced the Fall 2006 Kit Scholarship recipients: Jim White, Ericka Gawlik, and Deb Flohr.

To help offset the expenses of a culinary education, the CSCA Alumni Association established the Kit Campaign Scholarship fund in 2005. The Board of Directors contacted graduates of the School with the mission to raise funds to award small scholarships to cover the cost of the equipment kits, a necessary component to the culinary education. Since the inception of the campaign, six students have received the scholarship.

The scholarship covers the cost of a student's equipment kit, which contains the culinary essentials: knives, measuring spoons/cups, pastry bag/tips, spatulas, thermometers, specialty cutters, and uniforms.

Jim White is a student in the Culinary Certificate Program. His hobbies are woodworking, fishing, and cooking. Through a culinary education, Jim hopes to turn his cooking hobby into a profession. He worked at the Primo Italian Restaurant in Woburn, Massachusetts, in the 1980s on the garde manger station. Eventually he was trained on the pasta and grill stations. He currently is a volunteer cook for the Primetimer Seniors Ladies group at the Heritage Park Baptist Church in Burlington, Massachusetts. Jim says he realized that he wanted to be a chef while cooking for the Ladies group at his church.

Ericka Gawlik moved to Massachusetts from Syracuse, New York, to attend the CSCA as a student in the Professional Chef’s Program. She worked at a seasonal restaurant in upstate New York as a cook and said “it was that summer I knew no job I could ever have would make me as happy as being a chef.” Raised in an Italian household, Ericka learned at an early age the importance of food within the family and community. She credits her Grandmother Lena’s influence as one of the deciding factors to attend culinary training.

Deb Flohr decided to follow her dream to pursue training in the culinary arts and leave her banking career behind. A student in the Professional Chef’s Program, Deb is no stranger to the food industry. Her family owned the Grey Bonnet Inn in Killington, Vermont, where she spent many seasons working in the kitchen, managing catering functions, and supervising restaurant staff. Due to travel demands for her job, Deb began frequenting restaurants in other cities and writing reviews for Zagats, one of which was published. She is eager to move forward and start her life in the culinary field.

To be considered for the Kit Scholarship, the Admission’s Review Committee recommends incoming students who meet the scholarship criteria to the Alumni Board’s Scholarship Committee. The Committee in turn chooses the recipients after reviewing the applicant’s personal statement and letters of reference. The Kit Campaign Scholarship deadline for January 2007 admissions is December 1, 2006.

Contributions to the Alumni Association for the Kit Campaign Scholarship are accepted throughout the year. To donate to the Kit Campaign, please contact Christine Savastano Manzi at alumni@cambridgeculinary.com.

 
 

Jim White

Ericka Gawlik

Deb Flohr