“Get involved in charity cooking events, such as the New York Wine and Food Festival. You'll meet a ton of people in the field.”
When his high school in Tucson, Arizona, offered cooking classes, Tyler Johns decided to try them out … and was immediately hooked. “I fell in love with cooking, and even had the chance to participate in some culinary competitions on a national level,” he says.
It was at one of those competitions where he met Dean Frank Constantino, who sparked his interest in Monroe – enough so that Tyler packed his bags and traveled across the country to enroll. Now, he is about to graduate with a degree in hospitality management, with the ultimate goal of becoming the general manager of a resort one day.
Currently, Tyler is working as a banquet chef at a private club in Connecticut. He’s had two internships while working toward his degree, and urges prospective students to get involved with as many clubs and extracurricular events as possible. “Opportunities come up that can make pathways for your future,” he explains. “Get involved in charity cooking events, such as the New York Wine and Food Festival hosted by the Food Network. Its aim is to end childhood hunger, and they ask for volunteers with a culinary background to help the chefs with whatever they need. You'll meet a ton of people in the field, many of them celebrities. I recommend that all my friends in culinary arts do something similar.”
