WelCom February 2022
A St John’s College student with a passion for fine dining has landed himself a dream gig as a Commis Chef for one of Hawke’s Bay region’s prestigious restaurants.
Braeden Foster, in Year 13, recently began working at St Georges Restaurant. It is not the first restaurant the 17-year-old has worked at, having spent five months at Mission Estate.
‘It’s pretty cool that they’ve taken me onboard,’ he says. ‘I’m humbled and proud.’
He credits the tutorship from the school, in particular Culinary Arts Head of Department Craig Ireland, for whetting his appetite for the profession.
‘I owe my whole career and where I am now to Mr Ireland. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be at St Georges or anywhere.
‘And it’s not just Mr Ireland, Mr Ferreira [principal] is very supportive as well, always pushing us to do our best. There is just a very supportive environment at school from staff, parents and other students.’
Braeden has already achieved a number of successes in culinary arts.
Most recently he came First in Class with Gold for the Barista Challenge and Silver in the National Secondary School Culinary Challenge where he had to make a dish using every component of broccoli.
Two years ago, Braeden won gold for the same challenge, only his dish used every component of a carrot.
‘It was a really fun challenge, but it took a lot of hours of practice before and after school,’ he says.
The college’s annual Degustation Dinner, featuring seven courses each with a wine match from de la terre winery, is also a firm favourite of Braeden’s.
Not only is it an important fundraiser to raise much-needed funds for the school’s culinary institute, it also fosters relationships between the junior and senior boys.
Split into pairs, they are tasked with creating a dish and serving it to customers.
‘It just gave me that extra bit of confidence seeing where everything needs to be, at what time and making sure everything’s perfect,’ he says.
Braeden plans on staying at St Georges this year for an apprenticeship through EIT. His ultimate goal is to open his own restaurant.
Cultural institutes foster talent at college
Holistic education is strong value at St John’s College in Hastings. Cultural institutes have been set up so that each gifted and talented student receives specific tuition in their chosen area of specialisation. Initially five sports’ institutes were established, which have been very successful. The programme has been expanded with five new institutes in: Fine Arts, Performance Arts, Culinary Arts, Debating and Music.