Kale Wyse may not have medalled at the Skills Canada provincial competition in Abbotsford last week, but the Powell River student took home something just as valuable.
A graduate of the culinary arts/cook training program at Brooks Secondary School and the culinary arts dual-credit program offered by Brooks and Vancouver Island University Powell River, Wyse’s exceptional kitchen skills may have landed him a job at the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria.
“It’s not secured, so I can’t say I have it, yet” said Wyse. “It’s a position for a cook’s assistant. I’ll be helping one of the chefs, basically almost an education, but a job at the same time.”
Wyse said he hopes to start the apprenticeship this summer and then continue his cooking education at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary.
Prior to attending the skills competition, the entire Powell River team visited Victoria at the invitation of Fairmont’s executive chef, Morgan Wilson.
“It was exhilarating,” said Wyse. “We saw the whole kitchen and they fed us, which makes me more excited.”
Last October, it was not part of Wyse’s future plan to stay in the kitchen.
“I’ve been a pretty typical teenager; I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “It was after the first skills competition, the regionals, when I realized I can do this.”
At the Skills Canada regional competition in March, Wyse won the gold medal in culinary arts, which is when he caught the attention of Wilson, who was judging the category.
“He told me he would give me a job, he would give any of the competitors a job because of how well we cooked,” said Wyse. “That really opened my eyes to think I could take this somewhere.”
Wyse is an exceptional student, according to Brooks culinary instructor Mike Austin.
“He had two career choices, being a physician or a chef,” said Austin. “His family was really leaning toward a physician and what they said was, ‘You need to get all your prerequisites for medical school,’ which he did.”
Wyse said his family has been extremely supportive of the path he is on and that he looks at the choice between cooking and medicine pragmatically, but medicine remains an option.
“That would have been a lot of schooling, a lot of loans,” he said. “The good thing is, if I do continue to be a typical teenager, and if I’m two years into the job, I could hopefully have enough money saved away to pay for a nursing degree and then chip away at some of the loans I would have to have.”
Wyse said he does cook at home and, with his mother, the kitchen is a competitive place.
“It’s an argument between my mother and I who cooks the best,” he said. “I get on her nerves sometimes.”
Wyse said he has lived in England and Scotland and has never heard of anything quite like the dual-credit program offered in Powell River.
“It’s really shown a different side of what I can do,” he said.
Two other students from Powell River competed at the Skills Canada provincials. Christian Pederson brought home the bronze medal in automotive service and Maegan Brown competed in the hairdressing category.
