Help Julian realize his culinary dreams!

Julian joined the TEENworks program at the Goodman Community Center the summer before he started high school, and I had the pleasure and honor of working with him from day one. Julian didn't interact much with his peers, but found he was comfortable in our culinary classes during his training.

In his three years in the program, Julian took this comfort and turned it into a calling.

He's passionate about cooking and has grown his skills to a level where he instructs other youth, including running the extremely popular middle school cooking club and being a paid teen TA during summer job trainings. Through TEENworks, Julian works many of Goodman's catered events, partnering closely with adult catering staff to prepare, cook and serve food for the variety of milestone events that are hosted at the Goodman Community Center.

Goodman teen center adult staff saw that Julien was happiest in the kitchen and worked with him to explore ways he could turn his passion into a career.

He landed on a dream goal: to attend the Culinary Institute of America in New York and become a trained chef.

Julian is graduating a full year early from high school, due to his hard work, determination and the 5 full Experiential Learning high school credits he earned while participating in Goodman programming.

Julian got one step closer to his dream in December when he received his acceptance to the Culinary Institute of America!

And now Julian needs the community's help to get to New York. In addition to paying tuition, this extraordinary young man must also cover travel and living expenses. He's done so much hard work to get this far, and he needs YOU to help him get the rest of the way.

Any amount you give will go a long way in ensuring Julian can start on the path to becoming a world-class chef, and I can't imagine a young person more deserving of your support.