Launch Internship Program Student Story

Jordy Castillo spent the summer applying his culinary skills all around the Denver area as an intern at Greens 'n Grains. Jordy completed two semesters of culinary arts courses at Career Education Center (CEC) Early College prior to his summer internship placement. Greens 'n Grains (one of many great programs offered by Denver Inner City Parish) is a food truck that distributes free healthy meals to the community while also educating youth about nutrition. Jordy said this about his experience,

“My dream career path has been to do something with Culinary Arts, and at DICP (Denver Inner CIty Parish) I had the opportunity to be an intern as part of their Greens and Grains food truck during the summer, giving out free healthy meals to kids. The internship taught me skills that I will use again such as preparing food, time management and communication. Apart from learning valuable skills I had a great experience with the team and seeing the kids smile as they enjoyed their lunch.”

He was eventually put in charge of the flat top grill where he independently prepared the main dish for the free meals. Jordy received high praise from his supervisor. "I would recommend Jordy as workplace ready, as he is a great worker...Jordy is a great listener and focuses on detail well. When an assignment is presented to him with specific details he is able to complete it..." Jordy is now in 11th grade at CEC.

Learning how to SPEAK UP MORE helped me gain confidence in my abilities.

It was valuable to me in a way that I can see what I want to do and plan for my future.

I got to see a lot of what I was learning in my med classes used in real life.

The Launch Internship Program is a great way to discover if a student is interested in working in the career of their choice. It also made me gain interest [in] being in college and studying after high school.