(April 13, 2017) The Berlin Youth Club took a two-hour field trip to Worcester Technical High School in Newark on Monday to learn about the free vocational programs available to them, as soon as next year.
Nineteen students, boys and girls, all 12-15 years old from Stephen Decatur Middle School, started in the culinary arts wing and toured classrooms devoted to cosmetology, nursing, masonry, HVAC, early childhood education and criminal justice programs, among others.
The children arrived just after 3 p.m. and were treated to a snack of chicken fingers, French fries and fruit punch by chef/instructor Phil Cropper. What he didn’t tell them – at least at first – is the fries were made of cauliflower and the fruit punch was made with green tea, ginger ale, fresh fruits and beet juice.
Cropper started working with the Berlin Youth Club, a program of Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services in Berlin, during the summer. He was recruited, he said, by local business owner Robin Tomaselli of Baked Desert Café.
“We’re here today to promote all the different trade programs at the tech school,” Cropper said. “We’re going to talk about the culinary program and give them a tour of the state-of-the-art $3.5 million facility for culinary arts, and then tour the whole school and talk about all 30 programs that we’re doing, starting next year, so they can see the different options that they’re going to have as they get into high school.”
First, however, he led a demonstration on homemade whipped cream and showed the students how to top cupcakes with the confection, adding some fresh fruit and 24-karat, edible gold-dust for good measure.
“It’s a reward to take some of the kids that are misguided and try to show them the big picture of what is available,” Cropper said. “It’s maybe taking a kid that doesn’t want to go into culinary or masonry or nursing or any of the programs here and show them that it is doable. It’s rewarding to see the kids growing and to help guide them.”
Worcester Youth Program Coordinator Amanda Chaffee said the trip was a chance for the kids to get a taste of what’s available to them.
“I think they get the opportunity to see what they like and what they may not like. And they’re trying something new,” she said. “We’re trying to introduce them to all these different activities, which many of these kids may be interested in the next couple of years, whether that’s next year or waiting until their junior or senior years.
“It gives them a chance to see what’s out there and maybe they’ll decide to go on a track at Worcester Tech – or maybe they won’t – but it gives them a lot of different opportunities,” Chaffee added.
Tomaselli said it was important to show the students the kind of opportunities they have in their own community.
“They can not only go to high school at Stephen Decatur, but also learn some trades that can translate into work later on,” she said. “Particularly, for the area that we live in, which is so resort-driven, there is so much work to be had if you have experience. Even if that’s not what they want to do for the rest of their life, it’s something that can help them get work while they’re in high school, while they’re in college – really, no matter where they go.”
Tomaselli has been a fixture of Berlin Youth Club programs for more than a year, leading cooking classes, arranging trips to other local restaurants, or just accompanying the group as an extra set of hands.
“I just love these kids. And I love [Chaffee],” she said. “But I think the most important thing to me is – and it’s selfish on my part – but it makes me feel good to be part of something that exposes children to something they might not necessarily be exposed to so that they can see there is promise and hope. There are things out there that they can utilize and they can learn to take care of themselves, eventually.”
Next week, she said, Globe restaurant owner Jen Dawicki will talk to the youth club about filling out job applications and how to have a successful interview.
The goal is to give the students all the skills they need to find employment – whatever their eventual field may be.
“The next phase of it will be, hopefully, a jobs fair that will include any employer in Berlin that is looking for some young help, understanding that these kids, for most of them, it would be the first job that they ever have,” Tomaselli said. “If they’re respectful, if they’re loyal, if they’re prompt, most [employers] are willing to train people.
“Hopefully, this is just going to build,” she continued. “Here they see that they have opportunities in high school to learn a trade, and hopefully that will translate to them being able to fill out an application themselves and actually gain employment so they can start making some money.”
Nineteen students, boys and girls, all 12-15 years old from Stephen Decatur Middle School, started in the culinary arts wing and toured classrooms devoted to cosmetology, nursing, masonry, HVAC, early childhood education and criminal justice programs, among others.
The children arrived just after 3 p.m. and were treated to a snack of chicken fingers, French fries and fruit punch by chef/instructor Phil Cropper. What he didn’t tell them – at least at first – is the fries were made of cauliflower and the fruit punch was made with green tea, ginger ale, fresh fruits and beet juice.
Cropper started working with the Berlin Youth Club, a program of Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services in Berlin, during the summer. He was recruited, he said, by local business owner Robin Tomaselli of Baked Desert Café.
“We’re here today to promote all the different trade programs at the tech school,” Cropper said. “We’re going to talk about the culinary program and give them a tour of the state-of-the-art $3.5 million facility for culinary arts, and then tour the whole school and talk about all 30 programs that we’re doing, starting next year, so they can see the different options that they’re going to have as they get into high school.”
First, however, he led a demonstration on homemade whipped cream and showed the students how to top cupcakes with the confection, adding some fresh fruit and 24-karat, edible gold-dust for good measure.
“It’s a reward to take some of the kids that are misguided and try to show them the big picture of what is available,” Cropper said. “It’s maybe taking a kid that doesn’t want to go into culinary or masonry or nursing or any of the programs here and show them that it is doable. It’s rewarding to see the kids growing and to help guide them.”
Worcester Youth Program Coordinator Amanda Chaffee said the trip was a chance for the kids to get a taste of what’s available to them.
“I think they get the opportunity to see what they like and what they may not like. And they’re trying something new,” she said. “We’re trying to introduce them to all these different activities, which many of these kids may be interested in the next couple of years, whether that’s next year or waiting until their junior or senior years.
“It gives them a chance to see what’s out there and maybe they’ll decide to go on a track at Worcester Tech – or maybe they won’t – but it gives them a lot of different opportunities,” Chaffee added.
Tomaselli said it was important to show the students the kind of opportunities they have in their own community.
“They can not only go to high school at Stephen Decatur, but also learn some trades that can translate into work later on,” she said. “Particularly, for the area that we live in, which is so resort-driven, there is so much work to be had if you have experience. Even if that’s not what they want to do for the rest of their life, it’s something that can help them get work while they’re in high school, while they’re in college – really, no matter where they go.”
Tomaselli has been a fixture of Berlin Youth Club programs for more than a year, leading cooking classes, arranging trips to other local restaurants, or just accompanying the group as an extra set of hands.
“I just love these kids. And I love [Chaffee],” she said. “But I think the most important thing to me is – and it’s selfish on my part – but it makes me feel good to be part of something that exposes children to something they might not necessarily be exposed to so that they can see there is promise and hope. There are things out there that they can utilize and they can learn to take care of themselves, eventually.”
Next week, she said, Globe restaurant owner Jen Dawicki will talk to the youth club about filling out job applications and how to have a successful interview.
The goal is to give the students all the skills they need to find employment – whatever their eventual field may be.
“The next phase of it will be, hopefully, a jobs fair that will include any employer in Berlin that is looking for some young help, understanding that these kids, for most of them, it would be the first job that they ever have,” Tomaselli said. “If they’re respectful, if they’re loyal, if they’re prompt, most [employers] are willing to train people.
“Hopefully, this is just going to build,” she continued. “Here they see that they have opportunities in high school to learn a trade, and hopefully that will translate to them being able to fill out an application themselves and actually gain employment so they can start making some money.”