Kelly+Rainey

After graduation, i am attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I am majoring in Food and Nutrition and Culinary/Advanced Baking and Pastry Arts. I feel that IUP is the best culinary school for me because it is accredited by the ACF and the courses are taught by nine, highly skilled chefs with years of experience in the culinary field. IUP requires students to complete a six month externship before graduation. I plan to furfill my externship requirements in Hawaii, preferably Maui. I am also looking into Key Largo, as a back up plan. Either area would provide me with many job oppertunities to help me grow as a culinarian. I chose to pursue a career in the culinary field because my older brother, Eric, chose the same career path and he influenced my love of cooking. When i was younger i wanted to do everything he did, so when he told me to sign up to take courses at the vocational-technical school, i listened to him. My brother is a 2006 graduate of Fairview High School and the Culinary Arts program at tech. He is also a 2008 graduate of IUP's Culinary/Advanced Baking and Pastry Arts programs and he also recieved his batchelor of science in hospitality and management. He currently resides in sunny Key Largo, Flordia and works as a chef at the [|Ocean Reef Club]. He is a great role model and a very hard worker. He is incredibly successful because of that. I have always admired his work ethic, as well as his work as a chef/pastry chef. It is my goal to become as highly skilled and as good at what i do; as he is at what he does and to someday own and run my own bed and breakfast.

I know that it is going to take a lot of growing/maturing and years of experience to get where my brother is today. One of my two research topics is 'student life outside or the classroom and kitchen.' I think that to acheive my goal, i'll need to be very involved and have fun. Im not stating that your work cant be fun, but I think that to grow as a person you need to have a good mix of fun things to do that dont corolate with your career. I have been researching [|IUP’s] sports teams, student activities, organizations, soroities, class trips, and things to do for fun. I found that IUP has an amazing distance running program. I ran cross country for 7 years and track for 3. I would really love being a part of either team. Not only is it fun to compete, its also a great way to stay in shape. I have also found that there are 14 different sororities that i can pledge to. They all vary in meaning and interest. Another thing i found during my research is that IUP students have the option to attend many class trips. Some of them include visits to Canada and New York City.

While at IUP i will be staying in the on-campus dorms. I will be [|sharing a dorm] with my friend from Girard High School, Amanda Slupski, and two other girls. We will be staying in the four bedroom, two bathroom, one living room, and one kitchen suite selection. Our suite costs $6,870 per semester. This includes the cost of high-speed wired and wireless Internet connections, cable, two telephone lines and all other utilities. I chose the 14 meals a week with $150 ***flex dollars** per semester meal package for $1102 a each semester.


 * Flex Dollars - Flex dollars are extra money that can be spent on things not included in the meal being served. Coffee or Cuppachino in the morning, ice cream, extra food, or campus apparel. Flex dollars can also be spent at the restaurants on campus rather than at the student dining hall.