FOUR NEW ORLEANS CAREER CENTER GRADS GIVEN MAGICAL TRIP TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

Aniya Bailey-Kelly ’24, Madison Black ’23, Brianna Blunt ’24 and Heavan Hall ’24 will meet Disney’s culinary experts and tour kitchens at the world-renowned destination

NEW ORLEANS, LA., July 23, 2024 – Four recent grads of New Orleans Career Center’s (NOCC) Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management training are headed to Walt Disney World on an all expenses paid trip behind the scenes at Disney World’s culinary offerings. Aniya Bailey-Kelly, Madison Black, Brianna Blunt, and Heavan Hall departed New Orleans today along with 18 other young aspiring female chefs. The “Culinary Dreams Come True” excursion results from a collaboration between New Orleans & Company, Southwest Airlines, Visit Orlando, and Walt Disney World Resorts. In addition to insider experiences at some of Orlando’s top fine-dining restaurants, the four-day trip includes complimentary flights, accommodations, and theme park tickets.

The trip was inspired by the recent opening of “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure,” the newest attraction at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. The late Chef Leah Chase inspired the Disney film “The Princess and the Frog,” on which the attraction is based. 

“Our goal at the New Orleans Career Center is for trainees to gain the skills, the knowledge, and the networks to succeed in their chosen careers. Having four of our trainees on this Disney adventure exactly dovetails into that goal. Each of them has demonstrated the kind of culinary passion, personal connection, and desire to achieve that Chef Leah Chase herself always exemplified. We’re very proud and truly elated for these young women,” said Carlin Jacobs, Chief Programs Officer at NOCC. 

For Bailey-Kelly, who earned three industry-based certifications and two career and technical certificates from Nunez Community College while at NOCC, the trip offers the chance to spread her culinary wings. “I expect to gain a new outlook on things I can do in the kitchen,” she said of the trip. “I always look for ways I can expand what I can do and how I approach my culinary career.” 

All four NOCC grads are already taking the next steps to further their culinary careers. Bailey-Kelly and Hall start Louisiana Restaurant Association Apprenticeships at Zea and Gianna, respectively, shortly after their return from Orlando. Blunt currently works at Cochon and Black at the French Quarter location of breakfast favorite Wakin’ Bakin’. 

New Orleans Career Center offers career and technical education in five high-demand industry sectors: healthcare, building trades, digital media/IT, engineering, and culinary arts/hospitality management. Both high school students and adults attend at no cost and earn industry-based credentials tied to careers with opportunities for further learning and financial stability.

FOUR NOCC SENIORS ACE ENGINEERING/MANUFACTURING TRAINING AND HEAD TO LSU

ACE Mentors Program trainees Giancarlo Casalegno, Clarence Cotton III, Rashad Thornton and Kameryn Washington all start LSU in the fall with scholarships resulting from their ACE Mentors participation and individual achievements.

NEW ORLEANS, La.– Giancarlo Casalegno, Clarence Cotton III, Rashad Thornton, and Kameryn Washington spent their senior year at New Orleans Career Center designing a sustainable electric go-kart track for New Orleans youth under guidance of their ACE Mentors and NOCC instructors. The collaboration and the work have paid off. All four will head to LSU in the fall to study engineering and architecture. Collectively, they’ve earned more than $20,000 in merit scholarships to help pave the way.

Cotton, Thornton and Washington received scholarships from the Palmisano Foundation, the charitable arm of WJ Palmisano, which aids students interested in the architecture, engineering and construction professions.

Cotton and Washington also received scholarships from the ACE Mentors Program, which pairs working professionals in architecture, construction and engineering with high school students to inspire and engage them to pursue careers in those fields.

Thornton plans to pursue a degree in civil engineering, Cotton has declared a mechanical engineering major, and Washington hopes to enter the architecture program.

Casalegno, who will graduate from New Orleans Maritime & Military Academy (NOMMA), has received Flagship Scholars award, Innovation Scholarship and Academic Excellence Scholarship from  LSU where he plans to pursue a degree in computer science.

“One of the biggest things I’ve gained at NOCC is confidence,” Cotton said. “Confidence that I can solve problems, that I can make it through LSU and get my degree, that I can be an engineer like I want to be and have that career.”

While at NOCC, all four ACE Mentors participants earned Autodesk® Inventor certifications and completed introductory engineering courses through UNO’s College of Engineering.  

New Orleans Career Center trainees choose career prep and technical education from among engineering/manufacturing, healthcare, culinary arts/hospitality management, building trades, and digital/IT pathways. They attend NOCC half-day, every day, for the entire school year, for one to three years.

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CREDENTIALS MEAN CONFIDENCE FOR NOCC SENIORS STARTING CAREERS AND COLLEGE

Pre-Nursing Instructor Jeraneta Davenport, Class of 2023 Sophie B. Wright graduates and NOCC certified Patient Care Technicians, Kelsie Tero, and Cynthia Tejeda with Dean of Students, Ashley Jones.

Record number of trainees earn professional certifications.

NEW ORLEANS, La. – More than 100 seniors from 18 of the city’s public high schools are graduating with more than a high school diploma because they spent half the day, every day at New Orleans Career Center (NOCC). This year 114 seniors earned professional-level, industry-based credentials at NOCC – more than in any prior year – in healthcare, engineering/manufacturing, and culinary arts and hospitality management. Many of them also earned college credits through UNO and Nunez Community College, placing them ahead of their peers toward degrees.

“My Autodesk® Inventor certification and the college engineering courses I took while I was at NOCC, plus our classes and projects, gave me the confidence to know I’ll succeed at LSU,” said Clarence Cotton III, a Warren Easton Charter High School Class of 2023 graduate. Cotton will start LSU in the fall majoring in Mechanical Engineering. “If I weren’t going to LSU, with my Inventor certification I could go out and get a job I could support myself with right now.”

He is one of 17 NOCC engineering/manufacturing trainees to graduate with this certification.

In NOCC’s healthcare pathways, 30 seniors earned the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant credential and 41 earned the Certified Patient Care Technician credential. Both certifications qualify them to enter high-demand healthcare career paths well-positioned to succeed. 

Twenty-six culinary arts and hospitality management trainees earned credits from Nunez Community College. More than half of those (15) earned Nunez’s Culinary Arts Certificate of Technical Studies, for which 30 hours of coursework is required across core and major courses and a C or better grade.

“These credentials and industry-aligned training give our graduating seniors important advantages over their peers,” said Carlin Jacobs, NOCC Chief Programs Officer. “They’re immediately employable in well-paid, high-demand jobs with real, achievable career ladders. Those who want to go on to college have the skills to work in their desired fields while in school, start gaining work experience at an earlier starting point, and take advantage of tuition reimbursement opportunities to help pay their tuition.”