At the start of each term, The Alumni Association's Board of Directors awards scholarships from the Kit Campaign, a fundraising effort that awards equipment kits to CSCA applicants demonstrating financial need. Three students received the kit scholarships for the Fall 2007 term: Barbara Best, Joshua Guy, and Emily Bao.

A student in the Professional Pastry Program, Emily Bao originally thought she wanted to go to art school after high school. After a family session of making gingerbread houses near the holidays, she realized what she really wanted to do was make art with food. In making the gingerbread houses, Emily realized that her true calling was in the pastry arts. During the spring of 2007, while still in high school, she did an internship at a the Creative Bakery, where she worked with the pastry chef making bread, cake decorating, and learning the ins and outs of the business. She currently works in the front of the house at Embargo Martinis & Tapas in Hyannis, Massachusetts. Through her scholarship and an education in the pastry arts, Emily hopes to become a pastry chef and to create a new outlook on pastries by building challenging structures and designs full of taste and décor. She plans to test the limits of combining art and food.

Nurturing a life-long dream of attending culinary school and working in a restaurant kitchen, Barbara Best is a student in the Culinary Certificate Program. Originally from Barbados, Barbara has been living and working in the United States for 12 years as a nanny and baby nurse. While living in Barbados, Barbara worked in a full-service bakery as an assistant baker for three years. After a four-year stint in the fashion industry, it didn't take long for Barbara to realize that her passion lie in the culinary arts. She returned to the bakery business, working four years as a baker and ultimately becoming the bakery's supervisor. "Receiving the kit scholarship is a great achievement for me as I have been planning for many years to go to culinary arts school," said Barbara.

Joshua Guy is a student in the Professional Chef's Program. He says he was literally born into the food service industry: his mother was the manager of a large catering company in central Massachusetts when he was young. He claims he developed his zest for the food service industry from being around her and her chefs as a boy. He is currently a kitchen manager for Bateman Senior Meals in Lancaster, Massachusetts. He has also worked at Roma Bakery in Leominster, at the Chocksett Inn in Sterling, and at Via Roma in Lunenburg. After working in a professional kitchen for a few years, he hopes to complete formal training in the culinary arts to gain food knowledge, skills, technique, and enhance his creativity to pursue the next level of his culinary ambitions.

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 equipment kit includes standard tools essential to the student's culinary education: knives, measuring cups and spoons, piping bags and tips, uniforms, spatulas and scrapers, thermometers, whisks, and much more.

The Kit Campaign Scholarship deadline for January 2007 admissions is December 1, 2007.

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.

Emily Bao

Barbara Best

Joshua Guy