When asked why I want to go to culinary school I always go back and talk about the pandemic. While it didn’t affect me as much as it did some other families and communities, I grew, learned, and overcame challenges during that time. I started making bagels in April of 2020, they weren’t pretty and honestly, didn’t taste great either. I kept working on them. I perfected shaping them into cylindrical tubes, next carefully boiling the dough to make them puffy, egg washing, picking out the perfect season to top them with, then baking them to golden brown perfection. I belong in a kitchen. I belong in a chef's coat. I feel most like myself when I am in the kitchen. I started working at a bakery in the summer between my junior and senior years of high school. I made delicious croissants, learned millions of new things, and I gained a great passion for the career I was beginning. The experience of working in that bakery created a way for me to test out my dream career. I want to make a difference in people's lives. Some might wonder what a chef can do to make a difference in people's lives. I have an answer for that. As humans, our lives revolve around food. I am passionate about the food industry because I truly believe that food is life. The food you eat has so much more impact than you even know. Food changes your body, changes your brain chemistry, and can help your immunity to diseases. I want to make a difference in the world by creating food that is delicious and fueling. I am getting a degree in culinary arts but that's just where I am getting started. I am going to continue to build on what I learn in culinary school by getting a nutrition degree as well. My dream job is to be a personal or private chef for a family. I love meal planning and feeding humans delicious, nutritious, food. I want to make sure that my clients get to eat good food daily, try new foods, and eat the highest quality foods. I want to be available to teach the kids in the home and adults too, how to cook, bake, and have fun in the kitchen. I want to be extra educated so that I can meet the dietary restrictions or choices of any family. I belong in a kitchen. I belong in a chef's coat.

When asked why I want to go to culinary school I always go back and talk about the pandemic. While it didn’t affect me as much as it did some other families and communities, I grew, learned, and overcame challenges during that time. I started making bagels in April of 2020, they weren’t pretty and honestly, didn’t taste great either. I kept working on them. I perfected shaping them into cylindrical tubes, next carefully boiling the dough to make them puffy, egg washing, picking out the perfect season to top them with, then baking them to golden brown perfection. I belong in a kitchen. I belong in a chef's coat. I feel most like myself when I am in the kitchen. I started working at a bakery in the summer between my junior and senior years of high school. I made delicious croissants, learned millions of new things, and I gained a great passion for the career I was beginning. The experience of working in that bakery created a way for me to test out my dream career. I want to make a difference in people's lives. Some might wonder what a chef can do to make a difference in people's lives. I have an answer for that. As humans, our lives revolve around food. I am passionate about the food industry because I truly believe that food is life. The food you eat has so much more impact than you even know. Food changes your body, changes your brain chemistry, and can help your immunity to diseases. I want to make a difference in the world by creating food that is delicious and fueling. I am getting a degree in culinary arts but that's just where I am getting started. I am going to continue to build on what I learn in culinary school by getting a nutrition degree as well. My dream job is to be a personal or private chef for a family. I love meal planning and feeding humans delicious, nutritious, food. I want to make sure that my clients get to eat good food daily, try new foods, and eat the highest quality foods. I want to be available to teach the kids in the home and adults too, how to cook, bake, and have fun in the kitchen. I want to be extra educated so that I can meet the dietary restrictions or choices of any family. I belong in a kitchen. I belong in a chef's coat.

When asked why I want to go to culinary school I always go back and talk about the pandemic. While it didn’t affect me as much as it did some other families and communities, I grew, learned, and overcame challenges during that time. I started making bagels in April of 2020, they weren’t pretty and honestly, didn’t taste great either. I kept working on them. I perfected shaping them into cylindrical tubes, next carefully boiling the dough to make them puffy, egg washing, picking out the perfect season to top them with, then baking them to golden brown perfection. I belong in a kitchen. I belong in a chef's coat. I feel most like myself when I am in the kitchen. I started working at a bakery in the summer between my junior and senior years of high school. I made delicious croissants, learned millions of new things, and I gained a great passion for the career I was beginning. The experience of working in that bakery created a way for me to test out my dream career. I want to make a difference in people's lives. Some might wonder what a chef can do to make a difference in people's lives. I have an answer for that. As humans, our lives revolve around food. I am passionate about the food industry because I truly believe that food is life. The food you eat has so much more impact than you even know. Food changes your body, changes your brain chemistry, and can help your immunity to diseases. I want to make a difference in the world by creating food that is delicious and fueling. I am getting a degree in culinary arts but that's just where I am getting started. I am going to continue to build on what I learn in culinary school by getting a nutrition degree as well. My dream job is to be a personal or private chef for a family. I love meal planning and feeding humans delicious, nutritious, food. I want to make sure that my clients get to eat good food daily, try new foods, and eat the highest quality foods. I want to be available to teach the kids in the home and adults too, how to cook, bake, and have fun in the kitchen. I want to be extra educated so that I can meet the dietary restrictions or choices of any family. I belong in a kitchen. I belong in a chef's coat.

M-A-D-D-I-E. I traced lightly with my finger. Tugging the jacket off the hanger, I put my right arm in and then the left. The heavy denim jacket with my name stitched on the back felt comforting as I looked in the mirror. I felt transformed back to the boisterous middle schooler who loved that jacket and wanted nothing more than to be different. That jacket was more than just a jean jacket to me. It was my favorite thing to wear when I went somewhere new, so people always knew my name was Maddie. “Hi, My name is Madeline but I go by Maddie.” When people asked why I didn’t like being called Madeline, I told them I wasn’t some French girl who went to boarding school. I am not an echo of a made up children's book character; I am spunky and outspoken and completely me. Madeline is not an unusual name, nor is it an embarrassing one either. The meaning is “one who is elevated” and “tower.” Madeline originates from Magdala, which is the name of Jesus’ mistress, but I guess if you are going to be anyone's mistress, Jesus is the way to go. Madeline is not a disagreeable name in any fashion, but it's not me. So I stick to Maddie. I stick to Maddie because Maddie likes to push boundaries. Maddie chooses the other option whenever possible; when everyone else chooses to write an essay in agreement with the prompt in AP Language and Composition, I choose to oppose it, challenge it, and prove to myself that conformity is not always easier. Maddie can’t just follow the plan, she breaks away from it. Maddie makes things happen; two weeks after deciding that I wanted to teach a water aerobics class, I was certified, and in the pool in charge of a group of 15 elderly women, encouraging them to do squats. Maddie likes to be different, sometimes obnoxiously, but most of the time Maddie pushes me to grow. Maddie is fast, quick, and snappy. Maddie is the short, snappy name that can be shouted in a boiling hot kitchen. Maddie deserves to be known as the best personal chef on the east coast. Maddie holds all my former dreams of being an Olympic synchronized swimmer, (although I love synchronized swimming too much to let myself lose it to that intense level of competition). Maddie hiked the highest mountain in Maine, adrenaline carrying me up the mountain. Madeline Anne Long is my legal name but I am more Maddie than I ever will be Madeline. Maddie has so much more to accomplish and so many wonderful memories that make me whole. My “Maddie” jacket hangs in my closet, unworn for years. I can't get rid of it because it is part of me finding myself. Finding Maddie. That same jacket is coming with me to college and will be hanging in a new closet. Maddie and Me are going places.

When asked why I want to go to culinary school I always go back and talk about the pandemic. While it didn’t affect me as much as it did some other families and communities, I grew, learned, and overcame challenges during that time. I started making bagels in April of 2020, they weren’t pretty and honestly, didn’t taste great either. I kept working on them. I perfected shaping them into cylindrical tubes, next carefully boiling the dough to make them puffy, egg washing, picking out the perfect season to top them with, then baking them to golden brown perfection. I belong in a kitchen. I belong in a chef's coat. I feel most like myself when I am in the kitchen. I started working at a bakery in the summer between my junior and senior years of high school. I made delicious croissants, learned millions of new things, and I gained a great passion for the career I was beginning. The experience of working in that bakery created a way for me to test out my dream career. I want to make a difference in people's lives. Some might wonder what a chef can do to make a difference in people's lives. I have an answer for that. As humans, our lives revolve around food. I am passionate about the food industry because I truly believe that food is life. The food you eat has so much more impact than you even know. Food changes your body, changes your brain chemistry, and can help your immunity to diseases. I want to make a difference in the world by creating food that is delicious and fueling. I am getting a degree in culinary arts but that's just where I am getting started. I am going to continue to build on what I learn in culinary school by getting a nutrition degree as well. My dream job is to be a personal or private chef for a family. I love meal planning and feeding humans delicious, nutritious, food. I want to make sure that my clients get to eat good food daily, try new foods, and eat the highest quality foods. I want to be available to teach the kids in the home and adults too, how to cook, bake, and have fun in the kitchen. I want to be extra educated so that I can meet the dietary restrictions or choices of any family. I belong in a kitchen. I belong in a chef's coat.

When asked why I want to go to culinary school I always go back and talk about the pandemic. While it didn’t affect me as much as it did some other families and communities, I grew, learned, and overcame challenges during that time. I started making bagels in April of 2020, they weren’t pretty and honestly, didn’t taste great either. I kept working on them. I perfected shaping them into cylindrical tubes, next carefully boiling the dough to make them puffy, egg washing, picking out the perfect season to top them with, then baking them to golden brown perfection. I belong in a kitchen. I belong in a chef's coat. I feel most like myself when I am in the kitchen. I started working at a bakery in the summer between my junior and senior years of high school. I made delicious croissants, learned millions of new things, and I gained a great passion for the career I was beginning. The experience of working in that bakery created a way for me to test out my dream career. I want to make a difference in people's lives. Some might wonder what a chef can do to make a difference in people's lives. I have an answer for that. As humans, our lives revolve around food. I am passionate about the food industry because I truly believe that food is life. The food you eat has so much more impact than you even know. Food changes your body, changes your brain chemistry, and can help your immunity to diseases. I want to make a difference in the world by creating food that is delicious and fueling. I am getting a degree in culinary arts but that's just where I am getting started. I am going to continue to build on what I learn in culinary school by getting a nutrition degree as well. My dream job is to be a personal or private chef for a family. I love meal planning and feeding humans delicious, nutritious, food. I want to make sure that my clients get to eat good food daily, try new foods, and eat the highest quality foods. I want to be available to teach the kids in the home and adults too, how to cook, bake, and have fun in the kitchen. I want to be extra educated so that I can meet the dietary restrictions or choices of any family. I belong in a kitchen. I belong in a chef's coat.

When asked why I want to go to culinary school I always go back and talk about the pandemic. While it didn’t affect me as much as it did some other families and communities, I grew, learned, and overcame challenges during that time. I started making bagels in April of 2020, they weren’t pretty and honestly, didn’t taste great either. I kept working on them. I perfected shaping them into cylindrical tubes, next carefully boiling the dough to make them puffy, egg washing, picking out the perfect season to top them with, then baking them to golden brown perfection. I belong in a kitchen. I belong in a chef's coat. I feel most like myself when I am in the kitchen. I started working at a bakery in the summer between my junior and senior years of high school. I made delicious croissants, learned millions of new things, and I gained a great passion for the career I was beginning. The experience of working in that bakery created a way for me to test out my dream career. I want to make a difference in people's lives. Some might wonder what a chef can do to make a difference in people's lives. I have an answer for that. As humans, our lives revolve around food. I am passionate about the food industry because I truly believe that food is life. The food you eat has so much more impact than you even know. Food changes your body, changes your brain chemistry, and can help your immunity to diseases. I want to make a difference in the world by creating food that is delicious and fueling. I am getting a degree in culinary arts but that's just where I am getting started. I am going to continue to build on what I learn in culinary school by getting a nutrition degree as well. My dream job is to be a personal or private chef for a family. I love meal planning and feeding humans delicious, nutritious, food. I want to make sure that my clients get to eat good food daily, try new foods, and eat the highest quality foods. I want to be available to teach the kids in the home and adults too, how to cook, bake, and have fun in the kitchen. I want to be extra educated so that I can meet the dietary restrictions or choices of any family. I belong in a kitchen. I belong in a chef's coat.