Building Future Campus Kitchen Leaders

Students returned to classes this month, but just recently college campuses were bare. If not for an enthusiastic group of high school volunteers, most Campus Kitchens would have lacked summer manpower too.

“It keeps our doors open and it keeps our clients fed with that same quality and customer service that we would want for them,” said Jenny Bird, coordinator at the Campus Kitchen of Saint Louis University.

Bird said around 90 percent of the volunteers that arrive to prep and deliver meals to the Campus Kitchen clients in the summer are high school students. Many Campus Kitchens, particularly at St. Louis University, University of Massachusetts Boston and Washington and Lee University, rely on high school students to help run the show.

High school volunteers stream through the kitchen at St. Louis University in summer, where meal output is 1800 a month. Some arrive to serve from neighboring Catholic High Schools, while others visit from communities across the U.S. One high school teacher simply brings his class to serve because he loves to cook. All leave a lasting impact on Bird’s kitchen.

“When the high school students are here, we do more baking and intensive recipes because they have more time and more hands on deck,” said Bird. “They learn caring, and how to become emotionally invested in a different type of person.”

At the Campus Kitchens Virginia and Massachusetts, high school volunteers are integrated into summer operations to help direct operations. Jenny Davidson runs the Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee and put two high school interns to work there.

“Every high school student needs to do this. It is a good change, and a good experience,” said Tomas Mcbrayer, one of Davidson’s Campus Kitchen interns.

Coordinators agree that as much as the high school students keep Campus Kitchen meals going out in the summer, the Campus Kitchen helps build future leaders.

“As you interact with clients through the Campus Kitchen it just builds something in you that doesn’t go away,” explained Davidson. “The small interactions can sometimes make the biggest impact in developing their own idea of how volunteering can become a lifestyle.”