On February 7th, the first JD’s Place internship was hailed as a stunning success after a spectacular Valentine ‘s-themed restaurant event featuring delectable Italian cuisine such as (insert dish names later cause I forgot).
JD’s Place, an in-school and student-run restaurant, first started back in the spring of 2023 when Mrs. Anderson, a business academy teacher, decided to bring this idea to life with Ms. Chan, one of the culinary arts teachers, and the Culinary Arts department as a way to impart students with valuable insight into the specificities of running a business or restaurant. Such aspects like food costs, decoration costs, teamwork, creating an employee handbook, understanding how to create the perfect menu, and the role of graphic design, etc.
After JD’s place marvelous debut, it led to an amazing expansion of the restaurant in the fall semester when Mrs. Anderson, Ms. Chan, Mr. Limbach, and Mrs. Kong worked together with the Career and Technical Education Program (CTE), “to debut a paid internship with 9 other hospitality academy students. In this internship, teachers only played an advising and guiding role while students made all business decisions including choosing the theme and menu, helping staff, and training. These interns included previous students of Mrs. Anderson, such as myself and Mukhammadali Alijonov, who worked the front-of-the-house aspect of JD’s place.
The internship first began with a quick base-line holiday event where interns got to put their skills to the test and see what could be improved upon for the big event at the end of the internship. As a manager myself, I got to see how important communication and training are especially when there were issues handling and delivering orders. However, besides learning specific skills needed to work in a “fast-paced environment where you can get hands-on-real-life experience” as Mrs. Anderson said in an interview, we also got an insight into how the real world operates.
In an interview, Ryan Wei, a Culinary student and senior intern said, “It gives culinary students the ability to learn how the real world works. They learn real-life skills that are pretty much used and adapted in any field or aspect of life.” In the kitchen, students had to learn to use their voice and the importance of coordination which all people must learn at some point in their lives, and learning these skills now as high school students is an extreme advantage that adds a satisfying experience to a resume.
On the day of the event, DOE staff from different schools across the city and CTE staff got the opportunity to dine with John Dewey teachers and use the event as an opportunity to learn how to implement a similar program in their schools. (I’ll add a quote here from a teacher on their experience)
Now in the spring semester, another internship is coming on the way and John Dewey teachers can expect another chance to enjoy student-made food with another phenomenal menu this April! All rising junior and senior culinary and business students shouldn’t pass by this life-altering experience that’ll give them an advantage over others during college application season and when joining the workforce.
