This Fellowship has been a great experience. I can confidently say that I learned several lessons in ways that I didn’t expect.
One of the most important lessons was patience. In the kitchen you always have something to do and everything is always moving. Despite the frenzied environment, you’ve got to be patient with what you’re doing and not always rush.
The kitchen is a great environment for someone who doesn’t like to slack off. You do a lot of work, but the benefits are great. Everybody there is SUPER DUPER nice. They will always help you if you are having trouble, they will give you tips on the job you’re doing, and they will also simply talk and interact with you.
Knowing Spanish was a huge advantage for me in the kitchen. A lot of the employees are Mexican (others are Jamaican, Brazilian etc.), so knowing their first language can prove invaluable in communication. Another one of the benefits of working in the kitchen is the food. There are always broken cookies and leftovers if you are hungry.
From what I’ve seen, the kitchen is like one giant family. Everybody treats each other like a relative. In fact, the lunch we make every day is actually called the family meal.
Momentum Wednesdays were really cool. We met extremely interesting people who shared life lessons and interesting and cool stories. Our visitors included the district attorney of Westchester, journalists from major news outlets, and people who worked in finance.
Another great part of Momentum Wednesdays is getting to play golf and tennis at the end of the day.
This fellowship was a great personal experience and a great first job, and I would happily do it again. I loved the fun things I did in the kitchen, the other fellows were pretty cool, and our supervisors Dan and Nancy did a great job making the fellowship an enjoyable experience.
This is an awesome program and I definitely recommend it!