{"id":761,"date":"2013-06-13T07:40:51","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T07:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=761"},"modified":"2014-04-15T19:43:18","modified_gmt":"2014-04-15T19:43:18","slug":"compass-keepers-club-first-colonials-cameron-garvey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/compass-keepers-club-first-colonials-cameron-garvey\/","title":{"rendered":"Compass Keepers Club: First Colonial\u2019s Cameron Garvey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_3554\"<\/a>Cameron Garvey wields a sharp kitchen knife and in a fluid motion trims chicken breast, thinly slices garlic into ribbons and then chops parsley. The First Colonial High School senior glides through the kitchen with ease, picking up white wine, butter, lemons and capers while the sultry scent of chicken piccata dances in the air.<\/p>\n

Here, in a kitchen, Garvey is most at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been cooking since I was seven,\u201d he said. \u201cI was visiting my grandparents and I wouldn\u2019t stop talking so my grandma put me to work making the Polish version of beignets. My job was to twist the dough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garvey has come a long way since that first venture into baking. He’s dedicated nearly 900 hours at the Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center and is\u00a0happiest in the hot side of a kitchen where recipes are flexible and flavors can be changed with the slightest of seasonings. If you make something too salty, Garvey said, you can do something to balance it out and change the entire flavor. And making mistakes in the kitchen has taught him that you don\u2019t give up; you keep trying and keep improving. It\u2019s a lesson that can be applied to all walks of life, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used what I learned about cooking in my high school career to help me stay on track with my school work,\u201d Garvey said. \u201cJust like you can\u2019t say you don\u2019t like something until you\u2019ve tried it, you can\u2019t say you aren\u2019t good at something in school until you\u2019ve tried and given it your best.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he headed toward graduation this year, Garvey set his sights on the exclusive culinary apprenticeship program run by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. More comfortable in a kitchen than in a classroom, Garvey showcased his talents at the Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) Scholarship Competition and earned a $60,000 apprenticeship with the Colonial Williamsburg (CW) program where he will learn the ins and outs of the restaurant business. CW operates the only chefs’ apprenticeship program in the state that is accredited by the American Culinary Federation and accepts just a handful of budding chefs each year.<\/p>\n

Garvey will have to dedicate more than 6,000 hours of training over the next three years and attend more than 576 classroom hours at J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College to successfully complete his apprenticeship. During his time in Williamsburg, he will be introduced to numerous cooking styles and techniques, and will work in eight of the foundation’s restaurants.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a baptism by fire that Garvey can\u2019t wait to experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great thing is that you can do whatever you want with food; it\u2019s like an artist with a blank piece of paper who can draw anything they want,\u201d Garvey said. \u201cI see the ingredients the same way. I dabble, I play with ingredients the way artists do with colors and I get to create something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Garvey would like to be an executive chef in a Michelin star restaurant where fine dining and the finesse of plating food is key. He hopes to move to Washington D.C. or New York City to work under the best chefs in the country.<\/p>\n

But no matter where he lands he will always send care packages to his mom, he said, so she doesn\u2019t miss his cooking too much.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still some Thanksgiving dinners in my future,\u201d Garvey said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to disappoint her!\u201d<\/p>\n

Compass Keeper Q&A:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

What is your favorite television show?<\/strong>
\nChopped and all the Gordon Ramsey shows.<\/b><\/p>\n

What food have you tried that most teens probably haven\u2019t tasted?<\/strong>
\nFoie gras which is made from liver. It’s good, it melts in your mouth.<\/b><\/p>\n

What is your favorite book?<\/strong>
\n\u201cKitchen Confidential\u201d by Anthony Bourdain<\/b><\/p>\n

What is your pet peeve?
\n<\/strong>When people use my knives without asking and when people ask the same question over and over again when it is an answer they should know, like how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon.<\/b><\/p>\n

What is the best kitchen advice you can give someone just starting out?<\/strong>
\nLearn how to be good with a knife, know the proper temperatures and don\u2019t take it too seriously; food is supposed to be fun!<\/p>\n

*Do you know someone who should be featured as a Compass Keeper? Send your nomination to news@vbschools.com<\/a>.<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cameron Garvey wields a sharp kitchen knife and in a fluid motion trims chicken breast, thinly slices garlic into ribbons and then chops parsley. The First Colonial High School senior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1845,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions\/1845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}