Every day on his way into work, Chef Jarrett Young passes by a photo of himself. It’s on a wall of distinguished alumni at Central Montco Technical High School (CMTHS), from which he graduated. Young now serves as Culinary Arts Instructor at the school, where he also hosts culinary camps for local kids as part of his rapidly growing summer camp enterprise in southeastern PA. The daily reminder of his beginnings as a young student contrasts with the robust career he’s built as a chef and educator. He uses the path he forged like a template, offering inspiration to young people just getting started in the world of culinary arts as they take their first steps.
“Food is life. It always has been,” Young says. After high school, he earned a degree from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) before training under French Master Chef Dominique Filoni on the Philadelphia Main Line. He co-founded Create-a-Cook in 2018, setting up shop in the training kitchen and culinary labs in his alma mater. Just one year later, the principal inquired about an open, full-time culinary education job there, and the rest is history. Now Young spends nearly all year at CMTHS in some capacity, helping the next generation cook up new skills and passions.
Since 2018, Create-a-Cook summer camp has expanded to four locations – CMTHS, Haverford College, Conshohocken Community Center and St. James UCC in Limerick – and sells out solidly for the summer. Campers aged 9 – 15 attend four and five-day sessions with various overarching themes, like “Wok & Roll,” “From Italy, With Love,” and “Eggsquisite Brunch.” There all day, the kids have a cooking and baking sessions daily and learn about kitchen safety skills. At the end of the week, Young polls them on what they liked and what they want to focus on next time. The camps are chock full of returnees.
Without hesitation, Young reports that campers’ favorite part of Create-a-Cook camp is “the end product.” Each day, campers take everything they’ve made home to show their families and enjoy eating it. On the day we visited, it’s a hearty and scrumptious fried rice, zesty summer rolls and mini cheesecakes topped with a blueberry compote.
Since 2018, Young has steadily grown the camp programming (even adding a separate technology camp) and says that staffing is a key to its success. “It’s important to know how to work with kids and have a good demeanor, not just know food,” he says. His team includes his wife, Jessica McPolin and chefs Carisa Hamilton, Seth Schram, Spring Tempson, Kevin Grant, Shawn Holmes, Ava Todd, I’jhier Richards, Rylan Mulliken and Sara DiBenedetto as well as a kitchen utility assistant, Rashad.
This year, Young hired his first camp counselor, Sophia, a former attendee who aged out of the program and wanted to stay involved. Young also loves to feature special guests. “The kids get tired of my voice, so I like to bring in others” he says. On the day of our visit, Jaelen Toole of Jaelen’s Cheesecakes leads the baking sessions. Young was excited for the campers to meet someone barely older than them, who is running his own culinary business.
Create-a-Cook is built to work with a variety of skill levels and interests, from total beginners to returning campers and aspiring chefs. Camper input and creativity are fostered through guided experimentation, recipe customization and extra skills like plating. Those who take a serious interest in culinary arts could consider attending CMTHS as a high schooler, which operates on a half-day, share-time schedule with Colonial, Lower Merion, Norristown and Upper Merion school districts. There, Young helps teens really advance their skills and hone their interests. Beyond the massive and well-equipped training kitchen, his high school students run a real restaurant, The Bistro, where the public can sit down and enjoy breakfast or lunch (with a reservation made in advance, of course). The students funnel through front and back of house duties and experience the real pressures, challenges and triumphs of operating a restaurant.
Young trains all of his high schoolers as though they’re heading to CIA, whether that’s the plan or not. “If you can graduate from there, you can graduate from anywhere,” he says. He believes strongly in post-secondary schooling. “I’m a huge proponent of education. When kids ask me if they should go for further training, I’m always going to say ‘yes.'”
As Create-a-Cook winds down each day, the campers clean their work stations with military precision before heading to the communal classroom for a wrap-up session. If it’s the last day of camp that week, there’s a graduation ceremony complete with music, individual shout-outs, special certificates, games and discussion. The spirited camaraderie stays with the campers as they pack up their food and walk down the hall together to the waiting carline, chatting and laughing all the way. It might be the end of camp but, for many, it’s the beginning of a whole lot more.
“The goal is to have them come into Create-a-Cook and pursue their interests,” Young says.”If I can give them a start and get them going, then that’s a success.”
To learn more about these amazing culinary summer camps, head to the Create-a-Cook website and follow it on Facebook and Instagram. 821 Plymouth Rd., Plymouth Meeting; 370 Lancaster Ave., Haverford; 321 S. Limerick Rd., Limerick; 120 E. Fifth Ave., Conshohocken; (610) 739-2277.
- Photos: Create-a-Cook
