Leyden provides many opportunities to all its students to get a sneak peek into the careers they are interested pursing. For instance, anyone who wants to take his or her cooking and make a career out of it starts off with Culinary Basics and eventually make it up to Catering. Leyden events such as the Honors Breakfast and staff meetings function as the clients for the Catering students. These real mouths to feed mean real palates to please, which means early mornings and a great deal of preparation.

Analysia Martinez talked us through the process.

PREP

“Prep takes us anywhere from a few days to a week. We have to make sure that all the food that is being prepared before is at the best quality.”

SETUP and SERVICE

“On the day of the event, it depends on if it is a morning or afternoon event, but if it is morning, we have to get there early, around 6 a.m., to make sure that the food is prepared and that everything is set up correctly. Before the event Ms. Sweeney practices with us to make sure that we know exactly what we are doing. For the people that are serving the food, they have to know exactly what is in it, just in case someone asks. During the event we have to stand and act professional. While everyone is enjoying their food, we have to stand there quietly.”

CLEAN UP

”After the event is over we have to clean up. If there are people still there we have to clean up quietly. We take everything back to the room and make sure everything is washed. Then we have to put everything where it belongs. We usually finish early, so we have some downtime to rest.”