by James Payne, August 30, 2017

Since High School I knew that the only place where I wished to learn Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management was Kendall College. I have been working in restaurants since I was 16 and now at 21 I have yet to leave the industry. I never really thought about how my passion for cooking grew until I got the Kendall College Trust Scholarship. When I was younger, before I started working in restaurants I always thought I was going to be an engineer, because I always took my toys apart and put them back together. But now that I am in culinary school, I finally realized how my hobby of taking objects apart grew to my passion for cooking.

For most, food and eating in general, brings people together and makes everyone happy. When I would go out to restaurants with my family, I always liked how we could talk about not only the food we were eating, but ourselves. I wanted to be able to give that feeling of “togetherness” not only to my family, but others as well. When we would get our food however, I couldn’t help but “take apart” my meal to find out everything that’s inside. Then I would go back home and recreate it or “put it back together”. It’s now that I realize, I always had a passion for figuring out how things work and why. But now I apply it to cooking.

With the help of the Kendall College Trust Scholarship, I can keep my passion for cooking and creating and spreading joy through my food. I am constantly being inspired by others and hope to one day inspire someone else the way I have been. Someone that has a love for cooking and understanding why everything works the way it does. I know that I am destined to be successful in this field, I just need to “put it all together”.