Local high school students learn to cook under Chef Thomas Wong

“Excellence is not an act but a habit.”

This quote was etched in Kris Corrales’ notepad — and mind, after five days spent cooking with Chef Thomas Wong and the staff at Kapi‘olani Community College’s Culinary Institute of the Pacific (CIP), with support from Culinary Institute of America (CIA).

The recent graduate from James Campbell High School said that was just one of many moments with Wong that he’ll never forget.

“I was hesitant to join (the cohort) at first but then had that push to go for it, and seize the opportunity,” Corrales, 17, told Aloha State Daily on Friday. “It was five days of fun, stress, craziness and eating. … It felt like I knew everyone for longer than five days and we all really learned how to work together.”

The program’s summer cohort for high school students, which was sponsored by scholarships and covered culinary basics, ran from June 22 to 26, culminating Friday with final dish presentations by the young chefs for their ʻohana to enjoy.

Corrales told ASD that he got his first chef knife at 7 years old and will be headed to Rhode Island in the fall to major in baking and pastry at Johnson & Whales University. His goal is to return to the Islands to open a restaurant or bakery.

“I love food so much I tattooed it on my body,” he said with a smile, showing off an arm tattoo of a tamale that reads, “with all my love.”

“I got it as an early graduation present,” he laughed.

Corrales was most proud of his final dish made alongside a small team: duck thigh with a beetroot and red wine sauce, with drippings from the duck. “We got to do our own thing today, and Iʻm really happy with how it turned out.”

Jaeda Solywoda, who is going into her senior year at Kealakehe High School in Kailua-Kona, shared with ASD her goal of opening a bakery.

“I always liked baking, my mom used to be a pastry chef,” she said. Among her favorite home creations are brown butter chocolate chip cookies.

As part of the cohort, her team’s signature dish was dessert: hand-mixed berry ice cream with nut toppings.

“I learned how to delegate, cooperate and communicate clearly when working with my cohort members,” Solywoda said, adding that from Wong, her biggest takeaway was that “a positive attitude is the most important part of the kitchen.”

On Friday, students were awarded certificates and a final meal together, featuring recipes such as pesto gnocchi, orange chicken, meat jun, blooming onions, roasted baby carrots, apple cinnamon rolls, and more.

For Wong, being back at KCC mentoring students was a “real, full circle moment,” he told ASD.

“I have to credit my mentor [the late chef] Robert Chinen, who helped shape my career path the first day of KCC to CIA to the Greenbrier [Hotel in West Virginia], and so on. He was a springboard of advice for me,” said Wong, who grew up in Wahiawā and is now based in California as a professor at Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. “To come back here now and be able to share with these young kids is an honor. I don’t think of it as a job, it’s a privilege.”

He noted that there were a lot of unique qualities of this specific cohort, like their great attitudes, camaraderie and discipline. “Some of these things you can’t teach,” Wong said. “Cooking is just an introduction; they can use these life skills in any industry.”

Wong was also impressed by how quickly the students could sanitize CIP’s large industrial kitchen, in just 20 minute or less; that they would show up on time or early to class; and at how refined their palates were.

“In five days, I shared with them what I’d share with my (professional) students in 15 weeks. This is one of our most important programs in terms of what we deliver and who we deliver to,” Wong added.

“The goal is to teach methods versus recipes,” he continued, noting that he did not alter any recipes to pare down instruction for the age-specific group. “We focused on regional cuisines and tried to use as many local ingredients as possible.”

The overall goal, he says, is to continue to make cooking accessible across the state.

“I’m just standing on the shoulders of those who came before me,” Wong said. “Chef Roy Yamaguchi does a lot of work behind the scenes to find the funding for these scholarships, making classes free for students.”

“This collaboration with CIA all started with a connection Chef Roy had, and DBEDT [The Hawaiʻi State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism] contracted with KCC to do the work. We have a three-year timeline to do 24 cohorts,” Grant Itomitsu, KCC Culinary Arts Department chairperson, told Aloha State Daily in May.

The most recent cohorts completed were Cohort 21 for intermediate professionals and Cohort 22 for high school students, which happens once a year. In total, KCC has offered eight cohorts per year, Itomitsu confirmed.

Since September 2024, the CIP x CIA Workforce Development Program has provided training “to up-skill Hawaiʻi’s workforce and inspire the next generation of culinary professionals by giving individuals access to advanced instruction and industry-recognized expertise without leaving the state,” per CIP.

KCC will soon be accepting applications for the next cohort, intended for culinary professionals interested in butchery, which will take place in September. Click here to learn more.

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Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.