One Student Gets His Dream Internship at The French Laundry
The Chef's Academy students are top notch in the culinary fields
Jeremiah Clark excelled at The Chef's Academy from day one. He
enrolled in the school with a passion for cooking but very little
experience professionally. In the early days of his education,
Jeremiah made an appointment with me to talk about his internship
that he wanted to do at the French Laundry - one of the top 5
restaurants in the world! When Jeremiah told me that he wanted to
work there for his internship, I laughed. Chef Tony, our Dean, was
walking past my office when Jeremiah first told me that he wanted
to work for Thomas Keller at The Laundry. Chef Tony explained to us
that Thomas Keller has a long list of people that want a chance to
work with him and he candy pick's the best of the best from schools
around the WORLD.
I didn't know that much about The French laundry, I knew that I
couldn't afford to eat there and that even if I wanted to, I had to
call a year in advance and doing that really didn't guarantee that
I would get a table when I wanted it. Friends of mine have told me
that when they visited wine country they had to call the restaurant
3 days in a row with all five of them calling over ten times a day
just to get the phone to ring. The line is always busy. While
enrolled at the school, Jeremiah has volunteered at every event we
host and participate in. He works for a good friend of mine at his
restaurant and had proved to us that he would be a good candidate
to represent the school at a French Laundry caliber
restaurant.
To get things going, Jeremiah wrote several letters to Thomas
Keller asking for an internship possibility but none were ever
responded to. Jeremiah kept on asking me if I had called the
location and gotten through but the answer was always the same: "no
the line is busy." I would call four to five times a day at all
different times and always get a busy signal. One day I was walking
down the hall and Jeremiah asked as he did every day, "did you get
through yet?" I said, "I haven't even called yet but let's try." We
walked in the lounge, I called and the phone rang. I sprinted back
to my office with Jeremiah behind me. We were both were so excited
by the time by door shut the receptionist asked how she could
direct my call that my voice shook as I asked to speak to chef
Thomas Keller. She asked why I was calling him and I explained that
I was from a great culinary school in Indianapolis and that I had a
star student who wanted a chance to work with Chef Keller for his
Internship. The receptionist transferred me to one of the sous
chef's and I had a conversation with him about Jeremiah and he
agreed to allow him to travel to California and work for a weekend
to volunteer and prove that he is able to work and handle what
would be required. During the break week, Jeremiah visited the
French Laundry with his father and he volunteered 35+ hours working
at The French Laundry over a two day period. When Jeremiah returned
to school after the break he told me that he secured his internship
and would be starting in December for a twelve week unpaid
internship working for Chef Thomas Keller. I was blown away. I
actually cried and Jeremiah and I hugged and it was so amazing I
will never forget that day.
I still am amazed that in this short period of time, The Chef's
Academy is turning out top notch culinarian's who are able to
compete in such a competitive career field and able to work in the
top places in the world. I initially thought that we would get to
this level of excellence one day but never did I dream it would
happen the way it has. Our school will continue to have students
like Jeremiah and we will continue to place them in the best
locations we can find.
Jeremiah Clark left for The French Laundry in December 2009 for
his ten week internship.
- Contributed by Josh Horrigan, Director of Career Services at The Chef's Academy
