Graduation Ceremony Held for ChefsGo Students

Dr. Towuanna Porter Brannon is pictured (l-r) with ChefsGo graduates Gregory Whitfield, Rizza Laurel and Mesha Harrison.

Growing up, Thomas Nelson President Dr. Towuanna Porter Brannon worked at her mother's bakery. Lessons learned from that experience have helped her throughout her life and career, and continue to do so today.

At the Feb. 22 graduation ceremony for ChefsGo, she said that is why it was easy to explain how the College's Workforce Development culinary program carries on the College's mission to change lives and transform communities.

"She created jobs for young people in our city," Brannon said of her mom, who ultimately became a restaurant owner then opened a catering company and still is in business today, more than 40 years later. "She gave people work experience. She taught you things like grit."

The ceremony, at Williamsburg Community Chapel, celebrated the accomplishments of three students: Mesha Harrison, Rizza Laurel and Gregory Whitfield. They comprised the program's fourth graduating class, but first since August 2019. Program coordinators Robin Carson, Allison Patterson and Holly Herrick tried to run the program in 2020 and 2021, but the pandemic made it impossible. These three students began in August 2021 with 13 weeks of classes, followed by a paid mentorship from October through January. Harrison worked for Two Rivers Country Club (executive chef Tony Rizzo); Laurel with the College of William & Mary's dining services (executive chef Julian Spainhour); and Whitfield with Williamsburg Landing (chef Gary Glove and director of dining services Patrick Day). Harrison and Whitfield have been hired to work full time at their respective establishments. Laurel will be returning to New York City to be a personal cook.

Instructor Stephen Perkins, the chef at Colonial Williamsburg and president of the Virginia Chefs Association, told those gathered for the ceremony this is a perfect time to be getting into the industry.

"There's a need, 83% of restaurants in Virginia are hiring," he said. "There are jobs out there for you."

He cited other numbers from Indeed.com for the state of Virginia:

• 1,937 open jobs (from executive chefs to food safety specialists to caterers to general production workers and commercial butcheries at major corporations as well as mom-and-pop shops.)
• The food service industry in Virginia employs 378,000 people in 15,000 locations, which is 9 percent of all jobs in the state.
• It is an $18.1 billion industry for the state, and expects growth of 10 percent by 2029, which will add another 38,000 jobs.

"There are entry points everywhere along the way in Virginia for careers," he said. "And one of those entry points, you just finished, the ChefsGo curriculum and program. That's your entry point into what is the best and greatest industry, I think, in the world."

Brannon told Harrison, Laurel and Whitfield they can change someone's life with a meal or a smile. They can provide people their first job, a community with vitality, and prospective college students with recommendation letters.

"This program helps us live out our mission to change lives and transform communities," she said.

Program coordinators hope the schedule for returns to its usually February-August timeline in 2023. Applications normally are due in December. For more information, go to https://www.vpcc.edu.