Learn4Life graduate turned her passion into a career after being inspired during job skills training classes

There’s a lot more to starting a bakery business than just the love of making pastries, as Evelyn R. discovered as a high school student enrolled in a culinary career technical education (CTE) program.

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Learn4Life High School and career technical education graduate Evelyn R. admires cookies she baked for her own micro-bakery business (Photo: Business Wire)

“With my passion for baking and all the knowledge I learned from the culinary program, I decided to start my own micro-bakery, Le Petit Patissier, after I graduated. It had been something that I wanted to do for a while, but didn’t know how to start,” said Evelyn. “Thankfully everything I was taught helped me begin my business – especially the budgeting and business planning.”

Evelyn said that she gained a solid understanding of how to manage finances, track expenses and use resources effectively.

“Learning how to balance creativity with financial sustainability has been essential for running a successful business. I was able to apply those lessons when starting my bakery, ensuring I could offer high-quality products while staying within budget.”

After being homeschooled through junior high, Evelyn came to Learn4Life as a freshman and was thrilled to see they had a culinary arts program with a professional chef as a teacher.

Learn4Life, a network of 80+ high schools, launched a robust culinary program 14 years ago, in which students earn ServSafe and CPR certifications. They then begin a 32-36-week program that starts with food safety standards and culinary fundamentals, like knife skills and cooking methods for savory foods. When it comes to baking, they learn to make everything from crepes and brioche to pies, tarts and artisanal breads.

Invaluable for Evelyn was the hospitality class, which focuses on the business side of running a restaurant. Students learn how to do front-of-the-house management, cost analysis, budgeting, profit margins and customer service. They study the science of restaurant location, demographics and theme development. Finally, students make a presentation of their project concepts and food – all while they complete their coursework to graduate high school.

Evelyn sells her premium cupcakes and pastries locally and ships her cookies nationwide.

“I keep experimenting with new flavors and baking techniques to offer delicious products to my customers,” she said. “I plan to expand to sell at local farmers markets and hope to one day have a retail outlet.”

Check out her creations and beautiful packaging on Instagram.

February is CTE Month, to raise awareness of the role that CTE has in readying learners for college and career success. For more information about Learn4Life and its CTE programs, visit https://learn4life.org/programs/career-technical-education/.

About Learn4Life

Learn4Life is a network of nonprofit public high schools that provide students personalized learning, career training and life skills. Each school is locally controlled, tuition free and gives students the flexibility and one-on-one attention they need to succeed. Serving more than 64,000 students through a year-round program, we help them prepare for a future beyond high school. For more information, please visit www.learn4life.org.

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