Eva Farid, CIA
Eva Farid grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico with a Spanish mother and Egyptian father which opened her palate at a very young age to many different flavors. She has always found happiness in food and loves everything from the comfort she gets from eating it to the athleticism required to prepare it at a professional level. That’s why she made a career change at 27 to work in the foodservice industry to arm herself with the skill and knowledge to finally attend the CIA three years later. With this deep-seated passion already entrenched, it’s not surprising that Eva has excelled in all her kitchen classes and her talent has been recognized by both peers and chef instructors. Like many students, Eva aspires to someday own a restaurant. Her focus would be a farm-to-table concept where she’d work with farmers who have a direct connection to the land and their animals. Eva also aspires to be able to help future cooks reach their potential and feed not only the privileged but the hungry.
Adrian Flores Jr., CIA
As a first-generation Mexican American college student, Adrian is excited to continue to breakthrough obstacles and stereotypes but also feels the weight and pressure from family and friends that want to see him achieve his goals. Adrian’s culinary vision is to continue to create and expand authentic Mexican food and other Latin cuisines available in this country. He looks forward to immersing himself in the many different cultures around the world to gain exposure to new ingredients and fresh ways of preparing dishes. His CIA education will prepare Adrian, the future restaurateur and well-trained chef, to learn how to make a variety of dishes and cuisines, properly use and take care of kitchen tools, and manage people to work as a team and achieve the daily goal of satisfying customers with delicious dishes.
Marian Garcia de Alba, CIA
For Marian, food has always been a passion. Born into a big family of cooks and bakers from a small town in west Mexico, she remembers spending summers in her grandmother’s restaurant helping the cooks make tortillas, and evenings at the family bakery helping her dad decorate cakes. At 14, she got a job at a bakery and committed vacations to go around the country finding externships. She has been developing and working on her skills ever since. However, making the decision to attend the CIA involved more than just buying books and uniforms. It came with the commitment of moving to a new country. But Marian made the dream a reality. Marian completed her first goal of graduating from CIA’s San Antonio campus with an associate degree in baking and pastry arts with high honors. Goal two, Marian has worked with several Michelin Star Chefs including Jordi Roca, Roberto Ruiz and Montse Estruch as well as Jesus Escalera, the former best pastry chef in Latin America. Goal three, Marian is currently on track to receive her bachelor’s degree in food business management at CIA’s Hyde Park campus in August 2021.
Josue Harmon Feliciano, CIA
Born in the small town of Enterprise, Alabama, Josue’s road to the culinary arts took many twists and turns, including stints welding to street performing, before he landed at the CIA in San Antonio. Cooking was a real eye-opener. For the first time Josue felt alive, and he loved the idea that you could pour dedication and hard work into something that could also be shared and enjoyed by so many others. Attending the CIA also has opened many doors. Never in his life did Josue expect to learn to make the five mother sauces, peel shrimp, poach fish, or tie a roast. After completing his externship at the Cookhouse in San Antonio, Josue looks forward to finishing strong and learning as much as he can with this amazing opportunity.
Audrey Holcombe, CIA
Audrey has always loved food and creating new things through problem solving and trial and error. She felt pursuing a culinary science degree at the CIA was the perfect fit to combine this fascination of food with her knack for finding solutions. She’s also excited to become the first member of her family to pursue a career in the culinary profession. With the intention of earning an associate degree (in San Antonio) and bachelor’s degree (in Hyde Park) at the CIA, Audrey ultimately plans to find a job in research and development and work with companies who are producing high quality and well-made products to make them even better. Audrey is extremely hard working, dedicated and determined to make her culinary dreams come true.
Riley McKinney, CIA
Riley has always loved food and enjoyed cooking for others. Finally, after working in the food and beverage industry for nearly ten years, primarily in front of house positions, Riley decided it was time to move to the kitchen to officially pursue her passion for cooking. Her years working in the service industry taught Riley invaluable lessons about hospitality, hard work, and the beauty of good food. She is currently pursuing an associate in culinary arts at the San Antonio campus and looks forward to continuing a life-long pursuit of culinary knowledge. Riley is certain that the education she’ll receive from the CIA will be an unmatched foundation for the beginning of her culinary career and is grateful for the opportunity to study at such a lauded institution.
Luke Huschitt, Madison College
Whether it’s cooking in the kitchen or playing basketball in the gym, Luke is a happy guy which is why he decided to focus on both passions at MATC. Currently Luke is working on earning his degree in culinary arts and plans to join the Madison College Wolf Pack basketball team this fall. Adding to Luke’s busy schedule is his Assistant Manager position at Mission BBQ in Madison, where he works up to 60 hours a week. Luke is a firm believer that the busier you are the more productive you are. He also believes expending energy on the basketball court will be a huge stress reliever, which in turn will help his focus in both the classroom and workplace.
Brianna Johnson, Madison College
As a first-generation college student, earning high achievements means a great deal to Brianna and her family. That’s why her involvement with the MATC chapter of Tri-Alpha Honor Society, a National Honor Society for First-Generation College Students, is so important. Brianna has also been active in TRIO/Student Support Services, a federally funded, comprehensive support program created to increase student retention, graduation rates and employment post college. Brianna has been taking classes and working as much as possible through the pandemic to finish up her degree in the culinary arts program.
Amber Keenan, Madison College
Amber grew up on a small dairy farm with her three older siblings and two very hard-working parents. As a result, she was instilled with a strong work ethic at a very young age. In fact, Amber got her first job at 15 and hasn’t stopped working since. Amber has already earned a Technical Diploma in Baking and Decorative Arts at Madison College and is currently working on her Associate’s degree in Culinary Arts and Related Services. During school, she has also worked part time as the Kitchen Manager at Fat Jacks Sports Bar & Grill in Whitewater. After graduation, Amber’s ultimate goal is to open a full-service wedding catering company.
Waraphorn Phosri, Madison College
A native of Thailand, Waraphorn earned a law degree in her home country a few years ago. Although her family was thrilled, Waraphorn did not have passion for the law so she moved to the United States to begin a new career in the foodservice industry. Becoming a culinary arts student was the biggest decision of her life. However, it wasn’t a hard choice because spending time in the kitchen makes Waraphorn truly happy. Working in the restaurant kitchen doesn’t feel like work because Waraphorn feels like she is cooking for her friends and family. Waraphorn is confident that earning a degree from Madison College will help her follow her dreams and achieve her goals.
Evan Rank, Fox Valley Technical College
Evan chose the Culinary Arts program at Fox Valley because he has always loved to cook and has always enjoyed watching the Food Network Channel. The chefs featured on TV inspired him to go into the culinary field because he wanted to be just like them. While attending classes, Evan also works as a Food Service Aide at Fox Valley and Prep Cook at Texas Roadhouse. Both experiences are helping him learn valuable culinary skills. Evan has already earned a Technical Diploma in Kitchen Steward at Fox Valley. After completing the Culinary Arts program, Evan hopes to open a restaurant in his hometown, Gillett, WI. He plans to create a family friendly atmosphere and employ people with special needs.
Courtenay Lace, Fox Valley Technical College
Courtenay Lace knew the decision to leave the medical field after more than 20 years to pursue her dream of becoming a chef was the right one from the very beginning. She found cooking to be therapeutic and rewarding, and decided life was too short to not follow your passion. According to Courtenay, her adventure at Fox Valley Tech has been really amazing. Courtenay has loved every semester and is blown away by the vast wealth of knowledge that has been passed on to her by the Chefs. However, in light of COVID-19, the program hasn’t been easy. But Courtenay feels fortunate that the instructors have been willing to help the student population with the altered learning situations that resulted due to the pandemic. Courtenay’s future is bright, and she can’t wait to begin the next half of her professional career as a chef, where she will cook delicious food and hopefully open a restaurant one day.
Megan Pagliarulo, Fox Valley Technical College
Megan has always been interested in the culinary arts and the opportunity to use her imagination and creativity productively. However, once she started baking, Megan knew she found her passion and something she was really good at doing. She loves the interaction with the customer and recognizes the joy and happiness food and baked goods provide. Megan’s ultimate goal is to move somewhere warm and open her own bakery to make sweet treats like cakes, cupcakes and really anything that makes your mouth water. According to Megan, if she is to do nothing more for the rest of my life, she would be more than happy knowing that her work and art has made others smile and able to indulge in something really delicious.