Hey, there foodie fans! Are you a high school student with a passion for cooking, baking, or creating delicious dishes? If so, you’re in luck! Summer culinary programs for high school students are popping up all over the place, offering the perfect opportunity to hone your culinary skills, learn from top chefs, and connect with other food-loving teens.
From culinary camps and cooking classes to internships and apprenticeships, there’s no shortage of options for aspiring young chefs. So if you’re ready to take your culinary game to the next level and spend your summer doing something you love, read on to discover some of the best summer culinary programs for high school students. Get ready to whip up some serious culinary magic.
Summer culinary program for high schoolers
Amongst the many summer camps available for high schoolers, summer camp courses are the perfect recipe for a summer of fun and culinary exploration. Whether you’re looking to pursue a career in the culinary arts or simply want to expand your knowledge and skills, these summer cooking programs offer a unique and exciting opportunity to do just that.
1. Camp Chop
For youngsters aged 10 to 17, Program CHOP is a culinary arts camp in Virginia that blends core culinary training with food-related summer camp activities. As a result, our program combines the structured education of a 2-week culinary arts university with all the excitement of a regular summer camp.
Students will take classes that teach them how to handle food safely and that help them comprehend the science of cooking, as well as extracurricular activities like the Great Virginia Baking Show, go-karting, and campfires.
As a result, Camp CHOP gains from the more than 40 years of experience in summer camp teaching that it has received from its forebears.
2. The Summer Culinary Camp at Pali
A fantastic summer cooking program for teen cooks of all skill levels is the Pali Adventures Culinary Camp in Southern California.
This week-long program aims to familiarise teenagers with kitchen tools, broaden students’ gastronomic horizons, and encourage creativity in the kitchen by experimenting with various flavors and cooking methods.
Since there are often two camp staff members for every camper, students will receive enough mentoring throughout their educational journey.
Additionally, Pali summer camps have a sizable foreign student population, so students attending will likely be exposed to a variety of different viewpoints on cuisine
3. Summer Academy of the Culinary Institute of America
The most prominent and demanding institution of culinary school in the United States is virtually universally ranked as The Culinary Institute of America.
Many well-known chefs started here, including Anne Burrell, Anthony Bourdain, and many more culinary artists. CIA alums own a staggering one-fifth of all Michelin Star restaurants worldwide.
The summer school offers all the material a budding chef needs to succeed in the culinary arts field, just like the CIA.
4. Kendall College’s Culinary Camp
According to Chef’s Pencil, one of the top 4 cooking schools in the United States is the Kendall College for Culinary Arts. As a result, it is unique that they provide a summer program for high school students that enables them to benefit from some of the best resources for culinary instruction in the nation.
The camp week will cover kitchen terminology, knife skills, cooking techniques, and more.
Students will make field trips to Chicago-area restaurants and surrounding farms in addition to their cooking sessions.
5. University of Walnut Hill Summer Institute
Since its inception as the Restaurant School in 1974, Walnut Hill College has offered professional culinary training. Teenagers can choose between two summer programs at Walnut Hill College.
The longest of these is its summer Institute, which offers students the ability to tailor their research to everything food-related by choosing from the culinary arts, pastry arts, and management curriculum.
The second program on offer is a two-day program that examines the variety of American food from New Orleans to New Jersey. This prize is a significant honor. Each year’s competition challenge will be different.
6. Summer Institute at Stone Barns
The Stone Barns Center blends food analysis with agricultural research to develop a thriving farm and a top-notch kitchen.
Students will receive culinary arts training and the opportunity to work as chefs at the Blue Hill at Stone Barns, one of Stone Barns’ partner restaurants.
As a result, this curriculum not only imparts knowledge on sustainable culinary techniques but also emphasizes the significance of this practice for numerous societal issues.
Along with their culinary education, students will also study composting, livestock farming, seed breeding, and many other topics.
7. Summer Series of Sur la Table
Three separate summer series are available at Sur la Table for young adults. One of the two-week-long Sur la Table summer sessions will be offered every week during the summer, with classes running from June to August.
Its “Open Your Own Restaurant” series comes first. Salads, soups, desserts, entrees, and other essential menu items are covered in detail in this course, which culminates with students creating their restaurant menus.
The second is a five-day workshop in baking. This curriculum covers everything related to baking, including how to make the dough, the science of butter, various icing varieties, etc.
8. New York Cooking at Home
Home Cooking New York is a culinary school located in the heart of SoHo in New York City. The school offers a variety of cooking classes, culinary boot camps, and private events for individuals and groups. Their classes are taught by experienced chefs who are passionate about food and love to share their knowledge and expertise with others.
Home Cooking New York is known for its fun and engaging classes, which are designed to teach students how to cook delicious and healthy meals at home. For both beginners and experienced home cooks, they host their classes in a great way that improves your culinary skills. The cherry on the cake is that you meet like-minded people who share your love of food.
How to make the most of the summer camps in high school?
From engineering to veterinary to nursing, summer camps help students with a practical example of what they have studied theoretically. Hence, we have developed into specialists and amassed a sizable collection of advice on how students can make the most of their time at camp. Take the following recommendations as a starting point for making a camp session more impactful and meaningful for a Freshman. These ideas center around camp, but any summer program may participate.
- Interact and converse with campmates.
Your pupil might develop into the next Bill Gates. or Susan Wojcicki’s successor. And who most of their campmates end up becoming is anyone’s guess!
The point is that making friends at camp is a lot of fun. And it never hurts to meet a few people if your child wants to create the next big app or the all-time best-selling video game.
- Make the lazy days a time when you meet new people, have memorable experiences, and learn valuable things.
Camp can be a wilderness of worry for parents, whether simply a few hours a day for a week or staying hundreds of miles from home. So, before sending our Freshman to camp, we contacted seasoned camp counselors to offer guidance and peace of mind.
- Please take advantage of the chance when it arises to participate.
Undoubtedly, some camp activities will be more enjoyable for first-year students than others. That is unavoidable. Therefore, while we’re not insisting that they love everything that happens, do at least encourage them to give it a shot.
For example, “Ice Breakers” is not at all Freshman things, and they never look forward to them. But I still have to take part because, in the end, they truly do facilitate getting to know people.
- Maintain contact
Friendships developed at camp can rapidly turn into lifelong friendships; the secret is to keep in touch with those you met there! Encourage yourself to stay in touch with the people you meet at camp, whether by meeting up in person, playing video games, or being connected online.
- Share your camp memories.
It can be challenging to persuade first-year students to talk about their days and open up (especially with teens). Urge yourself to talk to a sibling or friend about camp and what they are learning if your efforts to get all the juicy camp information fail. The likelihood that new abilities will stick increases when people share their experiences with others.
Final Words!
Calling all young culinary creatives! Did you know that many of the world’s top chefs discovered their love of cooking before they even stepped into a classroom? That’s right – sometimes all you need is a passion for food and a willingness to experiment in the kitchen. But of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a little formal training under your chef’s hat, and summer culinary programs are the perfect way to sharpen your skills and expand your culinary horizons.
By participating in summer culinary programs, students not only get to practice their craft but also get to network with potential employers and meet new people who share their love for cooking. We hope this article has provided you with valuable information about summer culinary programs and inspired you to embark on your own culinary journey. So grab your apron and chef’s hat and get ready to cook up a storm!
Having a 10+ years of experience in teaching little budding learners, I am now working as a soft skills and IELTS trainers. Having spent my share of time with high schoolers, I understand their fears about the future. At the same time, my experience has helped me foster plenty of strategies that can make their 4 years of high school blissful. Furthermore, I have worked intensely on helping these young adults bloom into successful adults by training them for their dream colleges. Through my blogs, I intend to help parents, educators and students in making these years joyful and prosperous.