Jamaya Troupe says that one of her proudest moments as a Job Corps student was the day her instructor her asked her to cook lunch for a group of 100 children. The kids attended a school close to New Haven Job Corps Center in Connecticut, where Jamaya was studying Culinary Arts.
“That was my first time cooking for a humongous group like that,” she said. It was just Jamaya and two of her instructors cooking, and she made pasta and garlic bread—perfect for kids, and one of her specialties.
But before she was at Job Corps making meals for hungry schoolchildren, Jamaya was working as a
receptionist at a nursing home in her native New Rochelle, N.Y. The nurses there saw potential in her and encouraged her to become a Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) so she could work with them. Eventually, she decided to take a chance on it and started calling around, but most of the programs she found were too expensive for her to afford at 18 years old.
That’s when she met a CNA at work who told her about Job Corps. Her co-worker explained what Job Corps really was and how she could receive career training for free if she just applied. So Jamaya did. Just a short while later, she was packing her bags to head to New Haven.
While she had initially planned to begin the Certified Nurse Assistant training program, after some time exploring her options, she changed her mind. She fell in love with the creativity and focus of the Culinary Arts program.
Cooking for that big group of kids wasn’t the first time Jamaya had shown leadership qualities in her time on campus. She also served as sous chef in the kitchen—second in command under her instructor—and rose through the ranks of the Student Government Association, first as treasurer, vice president then president.
After graduating from Job Corps in June 2021, Jamaya returned to New York to be with her family and pursue what she loves—a career in the culinary industry. She may have started out cooking for schoolchildren; but now, thanks to the training she received at Job Corps, she’s preparing food for folks of all ages. Currently, she is balancing two jobs. In the mornings, she works at DIG, a farm-to-table restaurant serving seasonal foods at several New York locations. Then she heads to her job at the grocery store prepping grab-and-go meals for customers to cook at home.
Though Jamaya has always been a friendly, talkative person, she says the thing that’s changed most about her after her time at Job Corps is her confidence level.
“When I first got there, I was the nervous person,” she said. “… Now my voice can be heard by everybody in the kitchen. I make sure they hear me now.”
Graduated from Job Corps in: June 2021 Employer: DIG Restaurant Hometown: New Rochelle, New York Phone: 914-362-5546 Email: jmayatroupe@icloud.com Submitted by: Hannah Purdy Notes:
Source: Center email