Brandon Williams is currently a senior. He wants to be a personal chef when he graduates, but he’s got a couple passions besides the culinary arts, such as track, football, and making his own clothes as a hobby. He also just recently obtained a job at McWethy’s Tavern through his internship.

What field do you want to go into?

I want to go into the culinary arts and become a personal chef. Not only do they make a lot of money, which is great, because you don’t have to worry about financial security, but it also makes me feel closer to my grandmother who passed away. She taught me how to cook. By age four, I was making sweet potato pies, peach cobbler, rhubarb, strawberry pies, and she even taught me how to make one of her very own pies that she came up with herself. That all kind of just stuck with me, so when she passed, it cemented itself in me even more so.

How has that experience impacted you so far in your life?

It’s impacted me in such a positive way. It’s given me a sort of constant in my life. It kind of embodies stability for me, and also knowing what my future holds and that sort of security, because a lot of people don’t know what they want to do when they’re older, and I’m very focused on getting to the point of making it to be a successful executive chef. I have all these goals in life that I’m working towards, so the culinary arts also help me get there.

How has knowing that you want to go into culinary arts affected the rest of your schedule?

It’s actually made it pretty easy. I don’t have to worry about taking an extra math class this year, or any other structural classes for that matter. I don’t even really need to worry that much about ACT or SAT scores. I didn’t immediately want to go into T.C.D. which gets me out of a couple periods a day, because I wasn’t sure if I did want to play sports in college because a lot of scouters have had their eyes on me for track and football since my freshman year.

How has making your own clothes tied in with your interests?

Man, that’s just a hobby if I’m honest. I mean, I used to think about going into fashion design or interior design, but not so much anymore. I do still love it though. My T.V. is always either on HGTV or The Food Network.

What else are you doing to pursue your dreams currently?

I’m doing an internship at Courtyard Marriott right now. My aunt is married to a chef right now who works there, and he put in a good word for me. He’s a really good chef who jokes around with me a lot. He helped me out and got me an interview with a chef called Greg Milan. That family connection really put a spark in my life, and it’s really helped me focus. I’m a little bummed because I didn’t get to graduate early, because if I had this internship would have been my main focus. I don’t get paid, but it’s still so fun [because] I learn a lot that I don’t really care.

How do you think Metea has set you up for your future?

Metea has helped me so much. There’s just so many helping hands here, like Ms. Main, Ms. Maloney, Ms. Pyzik, Dean Rodriguez, Ms. Ingler, Mr. Williams. There’s just so many people here who have helped push me to where I am. Even when it was a struggle for me to even be at school because of other things in my life, it was them pushing me to progress and excel.