Culinary Grad Receives Award for Continuing Study

July 1, 2022

Three students in white chef's coats smiling in the kitchen with arms crossed

An April graduate from Fresh Starts Culinary Academy has been honored with the 2022 Gloria Pépin Memorial Grant of $5,000 for continuing culinary studies. Sarah Wolf stood out as an “outstanding female graduate of a program supported by the Jacques Pépin Foundation.”

Before joining our training, Sarah taught singing, helped in the kitchen at Ronald McDonald House and worked on a nonprofit organic farm. She felt a passion for empowering and connecting people through food.

“At Fresh Starts Culinary Academy, I embraced the idea that cooking is a path to self-reliance,” Sarah says. “Ultimately, I see myself in a community kitchen, preparing meals with fresh, locally-sourced ingredients, from a repertoire of multi-cultural palates, while teaching and empowering people to grow and prepare their own food, following farm-to-table, sustainable practices. My dream is to use my passion for food to help others and to create and strengthen community.”

Culinary Training Specialist Andrew Wild says, “Sarah was an attentive and inquisitive student with a passion for food and education. She was an active and vocal participant in our classroom and kitchen time, and she loved helping others.”

The Jacques Pépin Foundation supports our award-winning training program as part of their mission to “help individuals detached from the workforce gain confidence, skills, and employment in food service.”