For the past four Mondays, I have spent my mornings visiting my mentee at Port Richmond High School. I’ll admit, the first time I went I was nervous about meeting with him. What would I say? What would we talk about? We were still very unfamiliar with each other. The only time that we met prior was when we visited Port Richmond High School to introduce the program as a class. For the first meeting with my mentee, I went with Laruen, Shannon, and Kim. I’m sure that this helped make the visitation more relaxed for the mentees, and even for us as well. We decided to sit down for the period as a group and ask each other questions to get to know one another. We were able to learn so much about each other in a less awkward setting. We listened as the mentees spoke about themselves and speculated about what their futures may hold. Each mentee told us a little about themselves, their family, their favorite foods, what they like to cook (they all had a difficult time answering those two), and some other random fun facts that helped us break the ice.
I also discovered a lot about my mentee’s current cooking class. Every Monday, the students receive a new recipe for what they will be tackling that week. In class, they review the recipe in depth and make sure they are familiar with all of the ingredients that are necessary to make the dish. Knowing the ingredients and measurement amounts is very important to a successful dish. For example, one of the recipes my mentee was given called for two eggs, but it did not specify what size. I never realized that the size of the egg matters. My mentee explained that a larger or smaller egg than what was called for by a recipe will disrupt the consistency of the dish. This is now something that I’ll look for and keep in mind whenever I cook or bake.
On Tuesdays, the students begin to gather and prep the ingredients that will be used in the recipe. Actual cooking is reserved for Wednesdays and Thursdays. Every Friday, the students plate and eat the meal that they prepared. This process repeats each week with a new recipe. Although the dishes are typically chosen at random, the class prepared something special during the Mets World Series week. Mini knishes were the fare of choice, since this finger food reflected a menu item served in a baseball stadium.
While I was hesitant at first, I have come to enjoy spending my Monday mornings at Port Richmond High School. My mentee is a lot of fun, and I look forward to hearing about his cooking experiences. It has been a pleasure getting to know him as I try to help him focus on his plans for the future.
all very young, 15 and 16 years old, and they can cook a meal better than most adults. Cooking is an essential trait that a person should have. Cooking isn’t just throwing cereal and milk in a 
bowl, it is knowing how to eat well with certain recipes and ingredients that are essential nutrients in a persons daily diet and these students really understand how to do it. This experimental learning project not only teaches my mentee, Shannon, about my knowledge of food and nutrition, but it also teaches me things about food that I never knew. Each week, Shannon will teach me how to make something new and I will notify her about why each ingredient is important to have in a meal. I feel as if this mentoring program will not only benefit Shannon and other students at the high school, but it will also help me and the rest of the Wagner College students in the program.
king chicken stir fry. I still cannot get over how easy they’re able to make cooking seem, since I’m not much of a cook. Since it was Friday, we were able to taste what the kids ended up making and it was delicious. Now that my mentee and I are comfortable around one another and enjoying each other’s company I can’t wait to go back!