OUR TEAM

EXECUTIVE CHEF

Chef  Matrell Hawkins, owner and founder of Specialties Gourmet's Junior Culinary Academy (JCA) Summer Cooking Camp, is a professionally trained and certified chef. She graduated at the top of her class from the Center For Culinary Arts at Keiser University, and was named Graduate of the Year 2005, by the Florida Association of Post Secondary Schools and Colleges, FAPSC.

Chef Matrell completed her culinary externship and worked at some of Tallahassee's finest restaurants before launching her own business. Since opening Specialties Gourmet (SG) in 2004, Chef Matrell has donated countless hours to providing healthy cooking classes/ seminars for seniors, and rural faith based communities. Other accomplishments include:

• Selected by the Big Bend Rural Health Network to create a cook book that is being used as a tool to promote healthy cooking in the rural counties surrounding Tallahassee.
• Nominated for Emerging Business of The Year 2006 by the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce.
• Selected to work with Food Nework Celebrity Chef Michael Chiarello.

Chef Matrell has a sincere passion for food, and is committed to creating educational opportunities to promote healthy cooking. She created the concept and cirricula for the Summer Cooking Camp Program and is finalizing plans to implement recreational culinary education year round.

Click the links for more information about Chef Matrell and Specialties Gourmet.

INSTRUCTORS

Our class instructors are recruited by Chef Matrell. Each instructor has completed the Specialties Gourmet Culinary Instructor for Juniors Program and has many years of hands on cooking experience. Some instructors are professionally trained chefs that specialize in the topic taught.

Most instructors are parents of school aged children. All have a passion for food and have proven their committment to excellence in recreational food service education.

VOLUNTEERS

Our student volunteers are local high school seniors and college students that have a passion for food and enjoy working with the kids. Most volunteers are siblings of our campers that were recommended by the parents, or culinary students from local schools and universities.

We are currently accepting volunteer applications. Parents, if you have, or know of, a dependable high school senior looking to obtain community service credit, or wants to volunteer to help out with any of our cooking class programs, please have them send me an email or give me a call.