CHS-BOCES Student Learns Culinary Skills at Tilly Foster

Story by Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES:

Everything is lined up: three bowls, a wooden mallet, a whisk, chicken breasts, two eggs, seasoning and some potato chips.  

“I think we’re ready,” Sophia Piacente says to her partner, Andrew Junquera. “I think we are,” the John Jay High School student agrees.  Students work in the kitchen at Tilly Foster

The pair are in the kitchen at Tilly Foster Farm in Brewster, attending the culinary programs offered by the PNW BOCES Career and Technical Education Center. 

The class is preparing potato crusted chicken breasts in a lesson that includes instruction on the proper way to break an egg and use a food processor.  

Sophia, a student from Carmel High School, said she is planning to take home her culinary creation to share with her family. 

“I love everything I make at BOCES,” she said, adding that so far, the family favorite is chicken noodle soup.  

Molly Young from the Lakeland School District is another happy class participant. “I really love it here,” she said. “I get to see my friends and Chef Maria every day.” 

About 30 students spend two hours a day in three separate sessions in the program, explained Chef Maria Rosselli. Their day includes classroom time, when the students learn about sanitation and safety, nutrition and the various types of equipment found in a professional kitchen.  

“We’re preparing the students to go into the food industry, so they are learning on commercial equipment, rather than household kitchen appliances,” she said.  

The students also learn about table service. In non-COVID times, they would host events for the public in a restaurant adjacent to the kitchen.  

Some students have already found work in the field. Adrian Puentes, a John Jay High School student, is working weekends at Greenway Supermarket in Cross River, where he organizes the shelves; and Brewster’s Sam Spreter is working at Applebees in Brewster three days a week in food prep. “I do things like cut up broccoli and clean shrimp,” he said.

Students are also encouraged to participate in internships for real-world experience, and the program has a relationship with Second Chance Foods and Ace Endico in Brewster. Although COVID concerns are currently limiting internships, it is hoped they will restart in the near future.