Michael Passanita Memorial Scholarship

My love of food and the process of cooking has always been a staple in my life. I remember coming home and watching Anthony Bourdain’s: No Reservations, while my mom cooked us dinner. Coming from an African American background; food has always been a source of creativity and individuality for me. In addition, I’d watch other shows such as Andrew Zimmerman’s Bizarre foods which fueled my passion for culinary arts as well as culture and travel. Anthony Bourdain once said;” Good food is very often, most often simple food." I believe he said this because even if you’re making a simple cheeseburger, you can still pour love and passion into your food. Growing up I always helped my grandmother in the kitchen by cutting onions and green peppers for spaghetti, and during the holiday she’d always ask me to help with prep for thanksgiving & Christmas dinners. As the years passed, my thirst to learn more about the culinary world grew until finally I enrolled in my local technical school, MBIT, that would work in tandem with academic studies at Central Bucks South. In my three years at Middle Bucks Institute of Technology, I have learned the business of building a sustainable business, managing and maintaining my kitchen. I have had amazing Chefs that had guided me through my high school years. At my time in technical school, I worked side by side with the horticulture department to be able to have fresh ingredients for our school restaurant. I think it’s important to have fresh ingredients to be able to enhance the overall flavor and presentation of your food. When I discovered a culinary college that was in my area, I was excited and instantly applied. Before graduating high school, in my final months in my technical school I was made Soux chef of my class by my head chef due to my management skills I had in school and outside of as I worked as kitchen lead at my job at the time. I am passionate about going to culinary school because I feel as though this is the next step to being able to farther my career and my skills. Going to Walnut Hill College will help me be able to break through into the fine dining industry as well as the herbology field as well. If I win the scholarship it will go towards furthering my education and my passion in this field.