 Welcome to interview and we continue for a series on the chefs in schools program and the senator talent tourism association really continuing this great initiative to really get to the nursery of the talent in the culinary development of our chefs from an early age. We have with us now two students from the Suffolk Comprehensive School who are part of the program and we have with us Kayla Joseph and also Shekwin Franke. Welcome to both of you. Thank you. Kayla, first of all, what got you interested and what was the process that your school undertook to select you to be part of this program? Well, the chefs in the school came to our school and there was different chefs and we had to work with them. They put us in groups and they just observed how we worked and then our teacher was there so they would give feedback to our teacher and then our teacher picked us. Okay, wonderful. So you had a great experience with a number of chefs in the school before you came through. Okay, Shekwin Franke, tell us about your own experience. How was it like? Were you excited to be part of that program? Yes, I was very excited. I was very interested in cooking before the chefs came to the school because I have a very big passion of cooking. Okay, Kayla, you're on background. You had that sort of passion as well. Was it something that you had from a very, very, very young lady? Yes, I grew up learning how to cook with my parents. And I always wanted to be a chef, watching Food Network and stuff like that. So I mean, they're really supporting you in this endeavor? Very much so. Can you tell us about our food and nutrition at the Souffray Comprehensive? Is it something that a lot of students gravitate towards? Is it a subject that you find more and more students interested in? Well, not really, but people who like to cook, they choose food and nutrition for their subject. So does it compare to other subjects that you take on at school? Do you think that people take it as seriously as maybe Mathematics in English? Not really. But your case is different? Yeah, very different. Okay, because what about you? Yeah, I think it's different because to me it's much more fun than staying in the class doing math, you understand? So like, it's better to come, you learn about food, something you eat every day and stuff like that. Alicia Quinn, first you have all known that you've been once elected. How has it been like working with the chef that's been assigned to you? It's very interesting. I learned a lot of new stuff I didn't know about, and how to do different professional stuff. I know a lot of things about the chefs and the staff and everything. Ekela, what about you? It's fun working with our chef, he's a very fun person and you can learn a lot from him. And yeah, the experience has been good with him. He understands us, he teaches us and yeah. A question we've asked other students participating in this chefs in school program, what is it like being in the hotel and being in the setting among other chefs and actually preparing meals? It's a fun experience but it's a learning process also because you see the chefs preparing food for guests and they're under pressure and they're working fast and everything. So you can learn from that and yeah. Shekharan, the kitchen experience? It's very interesting and the way the chefs work, they work very fast, they know what they're doing, they're very organized and the way they cook is very beautiful to see. Wonderful. And the experience actually being in the hotel and seeing how the chefs operate, has that raised your interest level a couple of notches higher now that you've actually seen the experience within the kitchen? Yes, to see it and not just thinking about it, it's something to think about because you see it now, you see how the chef life is, so your interest goes. So much different between cooking at school just for the cook off and actually being in the hotel. So how has that impacted on you in terms of the great difference and maybe just being at school and having a loving for FNN and preparing for a convention actually being in the hotel setting. Was it like a culture shock? Yeah, in school I didn't really like cooking in the school but when I got to know I would be going up to other competitions my interest grew more and I just like cooking nowadays, I want to be in the kitchen everyday. Okay we'll have more questions on the kitchen, we'll take a break on our program interview, we'll be back in just a moment. The most important thing is good health. It's absolutely necessary to wash your hands if you want to keep good health. Even if you don't wash your hands often, it makes you feel better, listen. Wash your hands often and clean them thoroughly after a condition that is 6 months or 20,000. For example, if you don't wash your hands, you can't change anything, you can't avoid the type of people who are injured or sick, you can't type animals and you can't eat them. Wash your hands often and clean them thoroughly after a condition that is six months or 20. You can't do it, you can't touch them, you can't普通 them and you can't clean them. You can't do it, you can't touch them, you can't eat them. But if you don't wash your hands, you can't get better. We are going to have more questions on the kitchen and the kitchen, and we're going to be back after we finish our program interview. from the Souffred Comprehensive with us. They're part of the program. Kayla Joseph and Shaquan Frankie. It is you're now moving into the competition to pitch your skills against other schools who are involved in the program, but also you're going into the wider area of the Caribbean Challenge. First of all, tell us about your own anticipation and expectation when you meet up with the actual day of competition. We know that you have to produce something out of a mystery basket and you also have your specialty or signature event which you're going to actually prepare. Tell us about the mindset, the focus, how you plan to go about executing on the various days of those challenges. We also have a two round competition. The signature dish, I think we're ready for it and we've been practicing and we know what to do and so I think that we will do good in our signature dish. Also the mystery box, we've been practicing different things, different techniques, different ideas and I think we're ready for them whatever the ferrata is. Shaquan. The signature dish, we are ready. We are really prepared like we are ready and for the mystery box, we are just ready for whatever the fray now is, whatever they give us because we are practicing, practicing, practicing, practicing and yeah. Okay, so the signature dish actually gives you something that you can actually focus on and perfect but the mystery is something that has some nuances about it. So what the challenge is like in terms of the mystery box, is it how do you prepare yourself mentally in terms of do you anticipate what is gonna be any time you work towards it or do you just keep an open mind and perfect the art of preparing anything that's shown before you? How do you go about it? Well, the mystery box, you practice with different foods and you have an idea, okay, if they give us that, we're going to do that and that's how we go about doing our mystery box and I think that will be, that the way we go about it will prepare us for the mystery box. Okay, and I, a perfect opportunity to speak about your chef and give him some of the identity behind the interview. Who's your chef and how has the interaction been going and what sort of drills do they put you through on a daily basis or whenever, whatever schedule that you have when you do your training with him? Our chef is Ruben Kumar at Antasni and he's a very good chef. I would say he trains us well and he loves to teach and share a lot with us and share life lessons not only in the kitchen and working with him is hard but it's very fun also. My, like she said, my chef is Ruben Kumar. He's a very fun guy to work with. Like every time he be like, what you want to learn, you want to learn pasta or you want to learn this or you want to learn that. He'll be like, yeah, we want to try it like, yes. And he's a very fun person to work with and a very fun chef. Okay, so you get an opportunity to be at the hotel, you get an opportunity to go to Antasni. What do your other school members tell you or do they quiz you and how is the opportunity like? How are you enjoying it? Are they all interested as well, especially those who might have been around looking for the opportunity that the two of you have been given? I think they tell us, oh, you have worked today. Oh, you have training today. I'm like, yeah, we have training. And then they support us, they really support us and they make sure we up to date with our subjects and stuff and they ask us, oh, bring something back for us or whatever. Oh, you have to cook that for us. So they're very supportive about it. So often do you go to the hotel and for how long a situation is for an entire day? Well, more than an entire day. Sometimes we work from 12 to 10, three to 10 on a lot of days, four days a week. Yeah. Okay, now I want to look at the recent competition and I'm sure you're having aspirations to emerge the couple who will actually go on to represent Senusia at the regional competition. Have you already gotten yourself in the right frame of mind to take on a wider challenge? Of course, we focus on not only Senusia, we focus on Barbados also. So we train for Senusia and Barbados. So I think that we training and working with our chef would really prepare us for Barbados. Shikwan? Well, we're not training for a competition. We train for Barbados because we are not training for the competition only because it's very easy stuff. We are training for hard stuff and Barbados. So we know, like we get the pressure, we know what to do and we organize our stuff and yeah. We already set some very high standards, you would see, but I'm sure you know that there are certain hurdles or steps that you need to go, but still a very good strategy in terms of getting to the ultimate goal of going on to represent Senusia at the regional competition. Have you had any experiences from students at the school going through what you're going through now, those students who have had the experience of being involved in the SLHDA cooking in schools program? Well, there's two girls last year, they won in Senusia and in Barbados. So I think the standard is high for us to reach there also because they're champions, not only in Senusia, but regionally. So they help us. I contact one of them and they give us ideas and they tell us, okay, don't do that, do that. And yeah. Well, so you have some really lofty standards to really maintain. Shikwan, we're going to wrap up in a while, but tell us overall your feelings, your expectations and maybe generally what's your aspiration after the national event, if you do go on to Barbados in the future, are you serious in that you want to make it a profession? Well, when we go to Barbados, of course we'll win. I want my career to be more of cooking because I really love cooking from young and I want to make it a very big deal for me because I really love cooking and I love food. Kayla, you're closing remarks? I really like to be a chef and ever since I was young, I've always wanted to be a chef. So this will give me a good exposure into going to that career. We've just come to the end of our program interview. We had the first two students participating in the Chef's In-Schools program and they're from the Souffre Comprehensive in Kayla Joseph and also Shikwan Franke. Ladies, thank you very much for being part of our program. We wish you all the best in the upcoming Cook Ofference in Lucia and as you said, you're going to be the ones who are going to qualify for the big regional competition in Barbados and we look forward to seeing you at that level and to the best of both of you who have both said that you would like to be chefs when you go to leave school. Thanks once again for being part of our program. You're welcome. This has been Interview. We'll be back again for another program. Of course, we're going to be back soon.