Job corps provides students with fulfilling career paths

About to become a father at age 17, Steven Chavez feels the weight of big responsibilities.

But as he spends eight-hour shifts chopping tomatoes, readying plates and answering the call of chefs at The Peppermill, Chavez repeats a mantra to himself: "Here's your stepping stone.Go step."

Chavez, one of eight students at Sierra Nevada Job Corps in Reno to participate in a new pre-apprentice program at The Peppermill, has big dreams.

He envisions himself as an executive chef at one of the major properties of Las Vegas, his hometown.

More than culinary skills result from the structured six-month program.

Eighteen-year-old Rosetta Dodd, flipping through a thick logbook that details the individual skills ranging from sanitation to dicing learned by the students, says an important moment came when she was trusted enough to be left by herself to run a station in the Peppermill food court.

"It feels awesome," says Dodd, who hopes to become a pastry chef and someday run her own business.

"I felt as if I had been there for ever."

Debora Aragon, the Sierra Nevada Job Corps teacher who oversees culinary training, says the pre-apprenticeship program was developed by the American Culinary Federation.

Students work 24 hours a week at the Peppermill three eight-hour shifts each week and rotate through all 12 kitchens at the property.

When they're done, Aragon says, they have a competitive edge in their search for employment as well as credit for the first six months of an American Culinary Federation apprenticeship.

Along the way, Chavez says, he learned to move fast after he got underfoot in a fast-paced kitchen.

Dodd learned to be always prepared with paper and pad after a chef quickly spit out ingredients and amounts, then spun away to another task.

And the lessons go both ways.

Brennan Temol, a Job Corps culinary student from Palau in the South Pacific, grew up cooking fish and shared some of his skills with cooks at Oceano, the Peppermill's undersea-themed restaurant.

The pre-apprentice program is one of numerous initiatives undertaken by the Peppermill to develop culinary talent, says Mark Lund, an assistant executive chef who works with the Job Corps center.

"It is challenging finding good trained help in Northern Nevada," says Lund.

"Not only is it difficult to find good trained help, you must also place that help in the right positions so they can do the right tasks."

While skills taught by programs such as the Job Corps are important, he says that attitude is even more critical when the Peppermill is hiring.

"In a nutshell, we are looking more for good people (not necessarily good, trained people), and training them to what our expectations are," Lund says.

Culinary skills are among 15 trades taught by Sierra Nevada Job Corps at its center at Stead.

Up to 570 students aged 16 to 24 live in dormitories at the center as they complete training sessions that typically run six to 12 months.

Chavez, the student who views his work at The Peppermill as a steppingstone, has been working at one job or another as long as he can remember.

"When it comes to work, nothing is too challenging for me.

It's just a matter of whether I want to accept the challenge," he says.

"I'm going to become a master chef."