Highlighted Student

Matthew Burmeister
Professional Culinary Arts, AM, Chef Instructor Brett McKinney

Mattew Burmeister comes to C.A.L.I. from Division Avenue High School in Levittown and the Gerard R. Claps Technical Center where he attended two years of culinary instruction, in addition to his regular classes. While at G.C.Tech, under the guidance of Chef Instructor William Samboy, Matthew began to grow as a cook, doing well in the kitchen and shining in competitions.

Matthew is the recipient of our first full scholarship for Culinary Arts. He was chosen from a wide field of applicants. The selection process was a rigorous one that included an essay, several letters of recommendation and being grilled, excuse the pun, by a panel of judges. The panel, which included industry experts and school officials, interviewed each student at length. Matt stood out from the pack.

Chef Instructor Victor J. McNulty, who sat on the panel, explains why Matthew was chosen. “Two months prior to the scholarship dinner, Matt’s culinary class from the G.C. Tech came in for a tour and luncheon. My class was cooking that day and we served a seven-course meal based on fresh game, including Quail, Ostrich and Venison. Not only did Matthew, and his classmates, eat all the exotics elections, but when Matthew sat in front of the judges, some two months later, he described all the dishes in amazing detail. We were all very, very impressed, and right away I knew this was our winner.”

We are proud to have Matt at C.A.L.I., he is a great addition to the student body. Keep your eye on this young chef-to-be, we are expecting big things from him.