WEBVTT 00:00.855 --> 00:04.772 (dramatic instrumental music) 00:07.651 --> 00:09.573 - Throughout the cycle, you know we're halfway through, 00:09.573 --> 00:12.406 you know, Sunday is halfway point. 00:13.127 --> 00:17.020 (dramatic instrumental music) 00:17.020 --> 00:21.187 - Like wow, I really just made it out, like halfway. 00:21.304 --> 00:24.537 (dramatic instrumental music) 00:24.537 --> 00:26.049 - Now that I'm at the halfway point, 00:26.049 --> 00:28.301 not looking back, I gotta just do what I can 00:28.301 --> 00:31.575 to make this a easier ride and make it to there. 00:31.575 --> 00:34.189 (dramatic instrumental music) 00:34.189 --> 00:35.542 - We almost done now, so there's no point 00:35.542 --> 00:37.841 in messing up, doing anything to get kicked out. 00:37.841 --> 00:40.180 From now, it's just a sprint. 00:40.180 --> 00:44.013 (dramatic instrumental music) 00:47.948 --> 00:51.231 - Actually, I volunteered for this program. 00:51.231 --> 00:54.678 You know, it was kind of like on my own free will. 00:54.678 --> 00:57.480 ^- I'm going into the Navy for culinary, 00:57.480 --> 01:00.421 ^so she told me about this, it would get me ready first. 01:00.421 --> 01:03.524 ^- What I'm trying to take is my GED, my diploma. 01:03.524 --> 01:07.357 (dramatic instrumental music) 01:15.048 --> 01:19.215 - I want to thank all of you because this is very important. 01:21.415 --> 01:25.248 (dramatic instrumental music) 01:25.606 --> 01:27.991 ^- If I want to join the military, if I join the military, 01:27.991 --> 01:32.158 ^then this is sort of like my version of basic training. 01:32.766 --> 01:33.893 It kind of gives you a foot in the door 01:33.893 --> 01:36.666 to talk to recruiters and then also 01:36.666 --> 01:39.277 getting scholarships from here would help. 01:39.277 --> 01:43.110 (dramatic instrumental music) 01:44.083 --> 01:45.094 - I'm going to learn how to survive if 01:45.094 --> 01:48.094 I know how to cook, you have to eat. 01:48.454 --> 01:52.131 ^Basically when I get the kids, they know nothing, 01:52.131 --> 01:54.286 ^so I have to start from beginning to end. 01:54.286 --> 01:57.213 They come in, they know how, they know what to do 01:57.213 --> 02:00.214 as far as hands, getting their hands washed, 02:00.214 --> 02:03.881 hair nets, aprons, gloves on, ready to roll. 02:04.148 --> 02:08.315 We cooking, we cutting, we slicing, we frying, we baking. 02:09.414 --> 02:12.662 I have the girls baking chocolate chip cupcakes, 02:12.662 --> 02:15.448 or chocolate chip muffins, and they're baking. 02:15.448 --> 02:18.458 Last week they baked a hundred for me, 02:18.458 --> 02:20.143 so this week they have a challenge. 02:20.143 --> 02:22.891 I want 200 cause that's what they voted. 02:22.891 --> 02:25.974 (upbeat salsa music) 02:31.007 --> 02:33.212 Showing them how to wash dishes, how to set up the sinks, 02:33.212 --> 02:36.379 the washer and the rinse for sanitize. 02:37.445 --> 02:40.929 Each one of the kids, they know certain areas 02:40.929 --> 02:43.676 and certain steps to go, so when they leave, 02:43.676 --> 02:45.139 they able to go to a restaurant 02:45.139 --> 02:47.690 or go into the culinary field and say, 02:47.690 --> 02:49.738 hey look, I know this, I'm familiar with it, 02:49.738 --> 02:52.991 but they're learning something but they're having fun. 02:52.991 --> 02:56.367 They want a home cooked meal, you need it. 02:56.367 --> 02:57.625 If you don't have teamwork in the kitchen 02:57.625 --> 02:59.911 then it's not going to work. 02:59.911 --> 03:01.729 (upbeat salsa music) 03:01.729 --> 03:04.890 ^- Graduation day, hands down, the tears 03:04.890 --> 03:07.747 ^that come out, see the progress that's actually happened 03:07.747 --> 03:09.739 for the five and a half months here, 03:09.739 --> 03:12.596 it's like almost baking a cake every day, 03:12.596 --> 03:13.838 and then at the end of the cycle, 03:13.838 --> 03:17.338 you just see what you have, and it's like, 03:17.405 --> 03:18.525 it's an experience that I can only, 03:18.525 --> 03:21.381 you actually have to be here to see 03:21.381 --> 03:23.489 the process that you've put together 03:23.489 --> 03:26.406 and to see what is the end product. 03:27.113 --> 03:29.897 I get to see it twice a year, and I've seen it 03:29.897 --> 03:32.897 twice a year for 12 years, and it's just simply amazing 03:32.897 --> 03:37.064 because regardless of how many graduations I go to, 03:37.109 --> 03:39.660 I hear stories that I still don't know about, 03:39.660 --> 03:41.784 and at the end, the kids and the parents come up to me 03:41.784 --> 03:44.293 and they got tears in their eyes. 03:44.293 --> 03:46.702 You become addicted to changing young people's lives 03:46.702 --> 03:49.544 and it's what you do, it's your calling. 03:49.544 --> 03:52.478 ^- We take that challenge to try to keep them here 03:52.478 --> 03:54.573 and we have kept some here and they have 03:54.573 --> 03:57.906 graduated and gone out to be successful. 03:58.331 --> 04:01.243 That's what keeps drawing me back here each class. 04:01.243 --> 04:03.070 Once again, it's a challenge. 04:03.070 --> 04:04.875 - Just seeing the finish line slowly come closer and closer 04:04.875 --> 04:08.070 as I get through each day and each week. 04:08.070 --> 04:10.551 I want to get to taking that test, the GED test, 04:10.551 --> 04:13.129 and passing it, and walking across that stage 04:13.129 --> 04:15.838 and hearing everybody cheering for me 04:15.838 --> 04:18.066 and all the other cadets that made it that far. 04:18.066 --> 04:19.985 - Those things, those things drive me 04:19.985 --> 04:23.568 and make me want to be a better person too. 04:25.072 --> 04:27.560 (dramatic instrumental music) 04:27.560 --> 04:30.323 - Education is important, gotta tell them 04:30.323 --> 04:34.406 education is the next currency as the quote goes. 04:34.996 --> 04:37.746 - I'm waiting for graduation day.