San Pedro’s Brand New Culinary Academy Graduates First Class with Beautiful Dinner Party

Just last spring, Holy Cross Anglican School announced that their long-held plans for a vocational academy about to come to fruition. The very first phase, a culinary academy, would open soon. Paving the way for a bigger project, in conjunction with the San Pedro Roman Catholic Church, to build a much-needed vocational school on Ambergris Caye.

Holy Cross was started in 2006-2007 by volunteers and donors. Opened as a primary school for an area in need, an area described as the most “at risk” neighborhood in Belize by the Red Cross at the time. Initially, it was built for just a handful of kids; it quickly grew to the second-largest primary school on Ambergris Caye. The founders and the school’s founding are really a fantastic and inspiring story.

The new culinary school or SPICE – San Pedro Institute for Culinary Education (that’s good, right?!) was announced. I shared the original story in March of 2023 read my article…and contacted Holy Cross and…

Last weekend, 10 young chefs graduated from SPICE and presented a beautiful dinner to friends and patrons and town officials to show off their new skills. They’d completed a 15 week course – with classes twice a week from 4-8pm with Chef Gaynor Grant who owns and operates a cooking school in Pennsylvania and has a very impressive background.

120 hours in total – that is a serious committment.

Some of the goals were to teach techinques so that if a potential employer asked: Can debone a chicken? Or make a particular sauce? The students can answer a confident YES.

At the end of the meal – showing off culinary techniques from gratins to timbales – you could see how much the students loved their time with Chef Gaynor – lots of hugs, jokes and teary eyes. It was such a beautiful night.

To read more about SPICE and Holy Cross, check out their website. Here are my pictures.

Here is the list of graduates- congratulations all! Lisbeth Mejia, Veronica Hernandez, Laura Ramos, Edwin Tzul, Marcelino Choc, Devon Bainton, Judy Hancock, Dora Anariba, Ingrid Perez, and Stanley Tillet.

OH! And before I get to the photos, there are bigger plans for vocational training. At the event, they shared that only about 30% of kids graduate from high school on this island. They are asking for ideas and volunteers – perhaps folks who worked in an industry and can share and teach their skills with young folks here on the island. Do you know air conditioner repair? Or programming. Maybe cybersecurity or pastry design.

I’m just spitballing but you get the idea. Contact Holy Cross if you can help.

The graduates were given SPICE chef coats and certificates.

I was very honored to be invited and excited for what’s to come.