I was always encouraged by my family to try new foods. Still to this day I am a very adventures person. I love to try new foods even if they might seem, or look weird. I was born and raised in Queens New York. I went to Long Island City High School, and there is where it all began. I was mentored and trained by two wonderful teachers, Mr. Matsis and, Ms. Molite. They saw the passion and love I had to learn about cooking, and told me about C-CAP.C-CAP is a organization that looks for young high school students who dream to become chefs or a part of the culinary industry.

I’ve done a lot of competing to get where I am today. I am a firm believer of will power, as long as you set yourself a list of goals and remind yourself that you can do this, I believe that you will. I was given many opportunities to do workshops that trained me on safety and sanitation, knife skills, basic skills, and job skills. I was also trained with people skills, such as how to handle a sticky situation. When I worked in NBC Commissary in Rockefeller center I put those skills to the test. I had to deal with a lot of people some doubted me and told me I’m in the wrong career path, after hearing that for a while I really thought I was. But I didn’t let that discourage me and I worked my way through it. Because some people like, Executive Chef. Steven Mule a NYCCT graduate thought I was going to be perfect in this industry. I told him about my goals and dreams. He put me to work at the grill station, deli, hot station, cold station, prep cook, and catering. After working here it really opened my eyes to all that I can do. Before I started working here I made a list of goals and planned on achieving as much as I could. When it was time to go back to school I sat down with Chef Mule and talked to him about the next steps in my career. Here is where I was convinced City Tech would be my new home.

For every stage in my life I make up a list of goals. Currently some of my goals are to continue to gain experience working in all types of settings in the industry. That way I can find out what exactly I want to do in the future.

Hospitality Management wasn’t my first choice as a major I would study in college. My parents wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer but I knew early on that those occupations didn’t interest me. I wanted to grow up and do something interesting, something that’s exciting. It wasn’t until last year that I decided to give it a shot at Hospitality Management. My father is a flight attendant so I traveled to a lot of different places when I was a kid and I loved traveling, I love seeing new things and meeting new people. I stayed at so many different hotels all around the world, bad ones and good ones. So naturally, I decided to pursuit a career in this field. Maybe I can make someone’s experience better when they visit.

I went to a community college after I graduated high school, completed my associates degree in liberal arts then transferred to City Tech. I am currently still really new to this field but I am determined to learn everything there is to learn about managing a hotel. I am working in a bookstore now and I worked in a jewelry store in Times Square. I was hired at both jobs because I am bilingual in Mandarin and English. With the combined time of 5 years, I learned a great deal of providing a satisfying customer service and I strive it. I know being in either NY or LV will be more beneficial to an graduate with a Hospitality Management degree but my dream place has always been LA. I am planning to move there after graduation and my dream job is being the GM at the Disneyland Hotel. Hopefully, being in City Tech can increase my knowledge about this particular field and give me a nudge in the right direction.

My academic experiences were the joy of learning new things and also meeting new people. During the past few years of schooling, the amounts of work might have piled up but that’s only a fraction of what I don’t like about school. Spending time in a class full of students and teachers increased my social skills and my knowledge of the world. My academic goals are to find something fit and comfortable that I don’t mind doing in the near future. It doesn’t have to be anything related to my major, just anything in general but most of all, I would really love to finish college and take some time off and travel to places that I’ve been eager to go since I was a little kid.

One of my personal strengths is that I try to give it all when something really intirigues me and no matter how much amount of work I’ll need to do I try to endure it as much as possible and try to do it to the best of my abilities. My personal interests are food and how they’re made because when I’m bored I tend to watch food network and these chefs with their magicals hands can turn something ugly into something so appetizing and that really makes me want to learn how to cook and impress everyone.

I actually did not know what to major in before I was accepted. Hospitality Management is one of the idea that my counselor in High School gave me. He asked me what do I want to do in the future and I said I was not sure. Then he asked what do I like. I answered traveling and eating. So he advised me to sign up for Hospitality. He told me that this major will help me learn more about tourism; about how this industry works, how to deal with the tourists, how to satisfy their needs, etc. So I decided to try it. I’ve been working in a tour company since this summer. I talked to a lot of tourists and felt it was a great pleasure to help them to go to where they want. I think this experience will help me understand how people think, what people want when they go out for traveling.

I moved to the U.S. almost three years ago from Ukraine. Maybe it sounds weird but I always knew that my life would be connected with hospitality industry. After graduating from high school, I started to study in Kiev National University of Trade and Economics and choose Hospitality Management as my major. However, after two years, I was offered a perspective full-time job in one of the most successful tour operators in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The company was founded in 1993 and held its leading positions for more than 20 years on the out-coming travel market. It specialized on escorted bus tours to all the European countries and served more than 6000 travelers annually. I worked there as a manager assistant of Scandinavian department and was obsessed with tourism industry. The biggest pleasure for me was to hear happy voice of a client who came back after vocation. My job in this company helped me to develop my personal qualities such as enthusiasm, commitment, interpersonal and organizational skills.

I came to America in order to explore new opportunities and broader horizons. I lived in California and tried myself in insurance business which was completely opposite to my lovely and interesting job in hospitality industry. After several months of hesitation, I decided to move to New York and keep trying to find myself in what I enjoy. I started to work in a very popular Russian restaurant in Manhattan as a hostess. My first job in restaurant business gave me fundamental experience and professional knowledge. However, an idea to continue my education didn’t leave me and I choose New York City College of Technology. I had a chance to be attended at the Hospitality Management tour organized in the college last spring. It was informative and fascinating journey to the world I always wanted to be a part of. Fortunately, my journey started with the beginning of this semester and I’m sure it’ll be interesting.

I came to The United States six years ago looking forward to get a better life. I did high school in my country. When I got here first thing I did was get into a ESL program to learn English as a second language. Everything was difficult , the environment, language, the different cultures, and of course to settle down in this huge country.

None of these struggles stop me from pursuing my goal which is achieving my career. After my ESL program, in 2011 I started as a freshman at Bronx Community college, where I got my associates this summer 2014. I transferred  to City Tech this fall , My major is Hospitality Management. Few mounts ago when I was about to transfer I didn’t have any idea of what I wanted until a friend of mine who already graduated from City Tech in the same major, told me and explained the great opportunities and the wide and span options I can choose from this career. After hearing all her advises I did some research and got very interesting in hotel management and tourism because I like to travel and meet people. My career goal is to feel comfortable in what I’m doing and make my guests feel comfortable as well. I really don’t have a lot of experience in this industry but I’m looking forward to put my effort to learn as much as I can . My dream job is to become a GM at one of the Marriott Hotels. hopefully, been in City Tech studying this particular field get me in the right direction. During this career I hope to meet a lot of friends to share our best knowledge about this great career. I’m currently working at Olive Garden restaurant, like a said i’m interesting in hotel management but for now i’m getting some experience in the culinary area and who knows in the future I become a chef.

I recently graduated from Martin Van Buren high school. Being a freshman in college is now the next chapter in my life. Everyone has been asked that one question, “What would you like to be when you grow up?”  I realized I developed a passion for cooking and that would be my future career. My culinary experiences soon began in the kitchen with my mother and grandmother ; learning and watching step by step instructions . I started to create my own recipes and write them down into a handbook. I volunteered and served delicious healthy meals every Thanksgiving to the homeless population at the African Poetry Theater. During my senior year , at Martin Van Buren , my path to hospitality began while taking a course at Monroe College in Travel and Tourism. Now I am currently working at KFC (Kentucky fried chicken) . While I’m there I am learning to elevate my customer service skills. The skills I wish to accomplish in my time at New York City college of technology is to become the best chef possible.

I was born and raised on Staten Island and still live there today. I am a graduate of Port Richmond High School where I was in the culinary program. Since I could remember I have always wanted to be a chef that has been my life goal. I hope the hospitality program at City Tech will help me hone my skills to achieve my goal. Me personally my work experiences have not helped me in my goal, my only job so far has been at a day camp for four years. I have volunteered at Meals on Wheels during the school year last year and I learned a lot there, but it isn’t the same as a restaurant kitchen. I am a great leader I have proven that by not only being a leader in my Boy Scout troop, but by reaching the rank of Eagle Scout, because of this I have the ability to look at situations and figure out the best, and correct, way to handle them. My experiences with scouting have taught me the scout law, a creed I live everyday in everything I do. I am always willing to learn from not only my professor but my peers as well. I’ve learned so much from my friends in high school and I feel I can learn much more from my fellow students. I have participated in many competitions in both the culinary and the business side of this industry, including Ccap and Pro Start. These competitions have show me the ins and outs of this job. Trough this I have learned the amount of work it take to be here and I am ready.

I am a freshman at the college of New York City tech with a  have a great amount of academic goals. My parents are from the Dominican republic , which I take a lot of pride in.  I attended Williamsburg charter high school before New York City College of technology. My academic goals are to hopefully go through college with A’s and higher average in which I had in high school.  I hope to advance in this hospitality management course as much as I can as I never did anything close to a course as this one.  My moral is high and I believe I can rise farther than anyone else as I’ve done before in different situations. My career goals are to become a chef and hopefully own a restaurant. This idea hasn’t been with me since I was young. I would be lying if I said this was my passion since the day I was born but it’s something I’ve put a lot of thought into. My Career experience starts with my community service in my local church.  I would personally say that I am proud I was able to help young children though my time. I am also a very competitive person I love the idea of going up against someone or multiple people. I seem to thrive the best when I am under pressure.  I love the satisfaction of being the best in what I do, second place will just not be enough it’s just the way I was raised with a huge Hispanic family. My personal interest has always been the sport baseball.  since about 4 years old I’ve been playing baseball. Very fast I began to fall in love with the game itself. I began to only talk about baseball and when I wasn’t talking about it I was at the field playing it . By the age of fourteen I was named most valuable player in 9 straight seasons. Going into my freshman year of high school the day before my tryouts I broke a ligament in my shoulder and was unable to try out or play baseball for a whole year. This experience helped me enhance my professional attributes by forcing myself to learn the virtue of patience and being humble in life. Not taking anything for granted if you personal want something the only way of getting it is by working hard and taking the opportunity into your own hands.  Because in this life everyone is out for their own benefit, so you have to rise above the competition.