by Alex Kinderman, November 25, 2019

 This past quarter I started my Hospitality Bachelor’s Degree with a focus on Food & Beverage. This has been a huge shift for me from being in the kitchen all the time to being back in the classroom. Nonetheless, I’ve found myself in the kitchen again as I started a Teaching Assistant position in the Fine Dining classes. I’m glad to still have a connection with the kitchen as I don’t know what I’d do without it. Being a TA has taught me a lot this past quarter on what it’s like to be on the instructor side of things as opposed to being a student.

This past quarter I also volunteered to be a guest speaker at my former high school. I went in to some of the classes to talk about my experiences after high school such as my time at Kendall and on Masterchef. This was a really great experience and I let the school know I would love to come back. It was gratifying to let students know what amazing opportunities are out there. The main message I wanted to get across to them was the importance of making sure you find something you love to do. Loving what you do is so important in life and in my opinion cannot be stressed enough. I am glad that I have been able to find my passion for food and cooking and I feel everyone should work towards finding that one thing that that they will cherish forever.