Yellow sponge cake dessert cups with light whipped cream topped with sickly sweet strawberry topping, can you imagine? Of course I'm talking about the delicious, strawberry shortcake. Growing up for a while this was the only dessert that I had after dinner at my cousin's house. What's not to like about it; I mean it's sweet, light and the strawberries bring a nice sweet slightly acidic taste that just brings it all together. The feeling that I had when I ate that is the feeling I want to create for everyone when they eat the desserts I make. I started baking what seems like so long ago now but in reality it was back in 2021 so only about five years. The first cake I ever made was a yellow cake as the base and strawberry for the toppings. I have not stopped baking since. Honestly the flavour profiles has not changed since then because I still do the same thing, but it works and everyone loves it and that makes me so happy. So happy in fact that I decided to enroll in college and join a culinary program. I was not sure I was going to college at first because I struggled a lot mentally in highschool and to me, school was daunting. I hated the schedule that I was fixed to and I hated how miserable everyone else was around me. I started looking at my options and started to think about what I could really do with the skills I had sort of been developing. Becoming a pastry major has given me a solid shot in life and allows me to do something that I am genuinely passionate about. I really want to own a food truck and travel around everywhere and just spread happiness through baked goods. I love sharing and me being able to create things that brings instant joy is my ultimate goal in life. I think it's important to keep around classic, simple, and affordable desserts in a world that is constantly upgrading and getting more expensive. This is my last year in culinary school and I want to continue my education because this will only be my second year of higher education and I feel like there's just a little bit more I could learn in school before I go out into the pastry world. If I can get the money for my last year of culinary school then I can use the money that I get from my job to bake for more people and develop my skills even further. I am so excited for what this upcoming school year has in store for me and I am excited to be on the culinary journey that I am on.

I am 17 years old now but I started my bakery business last summer when I was 16 years old. I will create a positive impact on my local communities by offering low cost sweet treats, never throwing out items that have not been sold, and spreading positivity everyday I'm selling baked goods. I know that people love inexpensive products. That is why the prices of my baked goods are very reasonably priced and I do not plan on changing them. I sell homemade cookies for just two dollars and the cookies come in a variety of flavors. I also shop locally for fresh ingredients like fruit for my cookies, cupcakes, and cakes. I want the people in my community to be able to buy a little homemade sweet treat without all the junk ingredients for a fair price. Anytime I sell my baked goods and I do not sell out I either sell the goods for half off or walk around and give them to my local community for free. Food going to waste is something I am not a fan of and I wish more food companies and stores would give their leftovers to the people who need them instead of throwing everything in the trash. When I am able to give out baked goods for free I know it spreads positivity because the people just seem so happy and I just want the world to be a happier place. When I go out to sell my baked goods I will always do it with a smile on my face, always say please & thank you, and I will always try to connect with the people I am selling things to. I want to be able to have people who know me for being the person who's always happy and selling the most delicious & inexpensive baked goods. I am young and I do plan on going to college this upcoming fall semester and I will be in a culinary program so that I am able to get more experience in the baking field and further my education so that I am eventually able to open a physical store for my bakery. I know I have big dreams but I have an even bigger heart and I just want to share my baked goods with everyone all around the world. I want to be able to make treats that everyone can eat but I know that I will have to get better at baking to be able to make treats that are vegan & gluten free that are not expensive. In the next five years I will make a positive impact on my community by spreading positivity and inexpensive baked goods.

I have always loved watching cooking shows when I was younger, shows such as Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen. Then I got older I was a little bit more interested in baking and started watching shows like, 'Is it Cake?', 'Baking Impossible', 'Bake Squad', & basically every baking show you could find on Netflix. I have always been smart, always at the top of my class, always reading books, I even got an award for reading one million words in one semester in middle school. Even now as I am in my final year of highschool I am ranked number two in the senior class (academic wise). I have a 4.143 unweighted GPA and I am even about to graduate from highschool a year early. You see, technically this is my "junior year" of highschool but since I got most of my credits in freshman and sophomore year I am able to graduate this upcoming May. Not only am I extremely intelligent but I was also very involved with my school during freshman and sophomore year. From the 2021-22 & 23-24 school year at McCluer North High School. From second semester of 8th grade to second semester of highschool I was in wrestling and I was actually a pretty good wrestler even though I never competed. I was in theater (troupe 814) from second semester of freshman year up until my last day at the school, year 2024. Even though I changed schools I was still inducted as a thespian troupe member. Along side of wrestling and theater I did multiple hours of community service, 20 in the first semester of my sophomore year and 20 in my second semester. The reason why I am choosing to go into culinary is really because I am kind of tired of all the academic stuff and I really want to make a career out of something I am passionate about. Currently I am running a small baking business and I would love to expand my knowledge of pastry making and just culinary in general so that I am able to open up my own bakery some day. I want to make a career out of being a baking and maybe even a chef as well but culinary school is expensive and my mom just does not make the type of money to get me into culinary school. Being able to make sweet treats a a real profession would be an absolute dream and I really want to be able to spread happiness by traveling and making delicious food. For these reasons, I am choosing to pursue culinary school or some type of culinary program.