Spotted in: Downtown Santa Cruz
Occupation: Student
What are you up to today?
I have a culinary arts class today, and right now we're doing cuisine from around the world. I'm not really sure what we're doing today, but last week we did Greek food, which was really fun. That's pretty much it. I work over at Pacific Cookie Company and I was going to go check up on one of my coworkers because she's sick today. I just wanted to see if I could get her something before my class starts.
That's so sweet!
My class doesn't start for another half an hour so it works out.
So you're attending culinary school?
It's actually a ROP class, because I'm a senior in high school. It's basically just off-campus. I go to school in Felton, which is 30 minutes in that direction. It's just a bunch of kids from around the Santa Cruz valley cooking—it's really fun!
What have been your favorite cuisines so far?
The other week we did French food and I made this really delicious chicken with white sauce and puff pastry. That was one of the first things that I led on my own with a group of three other girls, and it felt really cool to take charge like that.
How did you become interested in taking culinary classes?
Well, it's my senior year of high school and I've kind of been taking the easy way through all of my classes, so I wanted to branch out. I started off really simple in freshman year, doing Spanish. So I did that through my sophomore year. I did ceramics last year, which got me thinking, maybe I should explore my creative side a little bit more and see what comes up! It sounded really fun, and I also had to fulfill one of my fine arts requirements for graduation, and that was one of the examples.
What are some of your favorite things to do around town?
I love going to consignment shops. There are a lot of really great consignment shops downtown. There's Crossroads down there, and Closet Shopper is awesome! Both of them do buying and selling—it's basically like Goodwill, but like a little higher up. For recycling clothes, which I really like. I try not to buy from big corporations as much, just because it's nicer to recycle.
What's a recent challenge you've overcome?
I had to work a late night shift at work. It was on a school night and I worked until 10, and I had a project due the next day that we were assigned the day before. And I had to finish that night, so I stayed up really late. I'm not taking many classes, so I haven't had to do that in a couple of years. So I had an all-nighter, and it was really hard on me. Because I had to work the next day.
What's something that's caught your interest lately?
I really want to be a teacher when I grow up, and I'm not sure what kind of teacher. My friend got me interested in this program in Massachusetts that I'm planning on going to. It's a permaculture program, and it focuses on a lot of sustainable gardens and raising animals. You get a certificate of completion from a permaculture program which is something you can actually use in resumes, and there's also a communal living experience, which is really cool. It's like a big community of all girls from ages 15-18. So that's what I'm doing this summer!
What gave you the idea of doing permaculture?
I'm really interested in kids, but I'm also really interested in the outdoors, and I just thought it would be a unique experience. And a bunch of my friends who actually went to this outdoor school in Northern California that I have a close mutual friend with, they're all going to the program. So my friend asked, do you want to come with us and I was like, yes—it sounds like so much fun!
I also want to ask you about your personal style—I really like what you're wearing!
Thanks! I feel like it depends. Because some days I feel like wearing jeans and t-shirts and dressing down, and other days if I'm feeling kind of low, then I like to bring myself up by dressing really nicely. It's difficult to explain what my style really is.
It's difficult for most people when I ask this question. I'm wondering if I should stop asking this question.
It's really difficult! My style is like, farmer's market chic probably! Yeah.
Is most of this stuff from consignment shops?
The funny thing is I'm actually not wearing a lot of my second-hand shopping things today. I'm wearing three different things from Forever 21 and then this shirt I actually got at Goodwill. This hat I bought at The Hat Company because I couldn't find any good hats anywhere else. I basically bought everything that I'm wearing downtown. I got these shoes at Sockshop.
This bag is great too!
This bag is Lucky Brand. I was feeling really sad the day after my boyfriend broke up with me so my mom took me to the mall in San Jose and was like, let's get you some really cool things. She said, don't even ask me how much it's going to be, I'm just going to make you happy. And I was like, alright. So this is one of the good graces of my mother—she doesn't really usually buy me clothes anymore since I have a job.
