Last year, Kearsley High School got a new head chef in the kitchen. Graduated from Arizona Culinary Institute, Chef Kevin worked in schools for the past 6 and a half years. He introduced Global Eats here at Kearsley, where he focuses on a specific country for a month. Chef Kevin has impacted the school by spreading his love of cooking through his food.

When asked what made him want to come to Kearsley High School, Chef Kevin replied, “I got asked by my area director, she gave me the opportunity to come up here to Kearsley and help build the program. Kearsley has never had a chef… but also teach the lunch ladies some culinary techniques. We are in a new fresh food movement that’s coming back… they wanted me to come in and help with
restructuring that.”

Once a week the Chef comes in and cooks a meal from a certain country. During the month of October, he focused on Italy. The student body enjoys and looks forward to Chef coming in.

When asked, what do you enjoy about working here at Kearsley, Chef Kevin replied, “It’s the students! … Because this is a smaller district, you’re more personal. I get to see the same faces, I get to know people’s names. I am overwhelmed with the kindness that I have received from the students and the staff here. ”

Senior Waasnodeh Davis-Hernandez, a lunch expert, has been very excited about Chef Kevin’s arrival at Kearsley High School.

When asked what her favorite thing about Chef Kevin coming to Kearsley, Davis-Herandez said, “I enjoy the new variety of food in the lunch room, it makes the school feel more elevated.”

Before moving to schools, Chef Kevin spent 18 years working for Marriott Hotels. When talking about why he moved from working at Marriott Hotels to working for schools, he mentioned his son. He said he had wanted to spend more time with his son, because he was a dad first.

Chef Kevin has had a big impact here at Kearlsey High School, inside and outside the lunch room. His kindness is spread not just through lunch time, but throughout the whole day. With his involvement in the Cookie Cart with the Leadership class and his Global Eats, Chef Kevin is an inspiration throughout Kearsley.