Photo Courtesy: Nadine Kam.
Come December, culinary arts students can start inquiring with their department counselors and chairs about a new scholarship that will become available to them.
The Christopher C. Neil and Nadine Kam Culinary Scholarship Fund is a one-year scholarship for second year or higher undergraduates. The $1,000 in funding will be divided among the recipients.
Applying culinary students may be full or part time, must be an undergraduate, have at least a 2.8 GPA, and be able to demonstrate talent in the culinary field.
This scholarship is a one-time award per student, meaning once received, a student may not reapply. However, the students who did not achieve it the first time around may reapply every year. In order to make themselves a stronger applicant, students should apply early.
Instructors are heavily involved in the process of choosing recipients, “so students should work hard at all times and show dedication to moving Hawaiʻi’s culinary arts scene forward.” An appointed scholarship committee will also look over the applications and award students according to their system.
There will be more information released by the UH Foundation in Dec. Around that time, each culinary student will receive an email from the UH School System, containing the details of the scholarship. In order to apply, students must inquire with, and contact their department counselors.
The application reviewing process will be from Dec to Mar 2014, and the chosen students will be announced in Apr 2014. Culinary students can get more information about the Christopher C. Neil and Nadine Kam Culinary Scholarship at uhfoundation.org
Kam, the style editor at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, established this scholarship in the memory of her late husband, Christopher C. Neil, and their late friend Alex Lee.
Together, Kam and Neil intended to create this scholarship to commemorate Alex Lee, who was a culinary student when he died.
When Neil passed away this April, Kam pushed to start the scholarship right away.
“When someone you love dies, it pushes you to memorialize them so that they won’t be forgotten, and also to do the things you put off,” Kam said. “I feel like I’m living for the three of us now, and want to carry out their wishes, which is to help others succeed.”
Photo Courtesty: Nadine Kam
It made sense for Kam to fund the culinary program, her column, the Weekly Eater, in the Star-Advertiser, Kam writes about fashion, beauty, art, food and lifestyle. She specifically chose the culinary program at Kapi‘olani Community College because she feels that it has “benefited all of us as diners.”
She explains that most of the family, friends and community members who have donated to the scholarship, “recognize that anybody who dines out in Hawai‘i has probably been waited on or enjoyed the cuisine of a KapCC culinary graduate, so we all benefit from helping the next generation of chefs and restaurant professionals.”