Syrena Johnson never thought anyone evaluating scholarship applicants would even give her a second look. That all changed in the summer of 2011, though, when the New Orleans native received the first-ever Chefs Move! Culinary Scholarship.

The scholarship paid for room and board, a laptop and 13 months at the French Culinary Institute in New York City, where Johnson learned from some of the greatest chefs in the world, including John Besh.

"It sounded too good to be true," Johnson told a crowd at Underground 119 March 3.

Johnson, 22, owes the scholarship to the people at Liberty's Kitchen, she said, and she's paying every bit of it back. A non-profit organization, Liberty's Kitchen takes in at-risk youth in New Orleans, and puts them through a 12-to-15-week program that teaches them life skills and the ins and outs of running a restaurant. It also provides employment assistance after they graduate.

The educational process includes running a cafe, providing fresh, from-scratch lunches to 1,000 public-school children five days a week, catering events and in-class instruction. If participants haven't already earned a high-school diploma, the program provides tutoring to help them earn a GED.

In 2010, Johnson was one of those young people. She entered the Liberty's Kitchen Youth Development Program with some kitchen experience, and competed the program in just seven weeks. After graduation, Liberty's Kitchen hired Johnson to work on the school-lunch program. She was working there when Liberty's Kitchen directors pushed her to apply for the Chefs Move! Scholarship.

"I was just like, 'Nah--I couldn't possibly win that," Johnson said. "Everybody from Liberty's Kitchen was like, 'Come, Syrena, you really have to do this. You have a chance."

Johnson applied. She didn't really believe she had a chance until she made it to the second round of the selection process. One round and an interview with Besh later, Johnson had a scholarship to one of the best culinary schools in the country.

Now Johnson is back at Liberty's Kitchen as an instructor, providing the same education she received to other New Orleans' young people.

Though she is a success story of Liberty's Kitchen, she certainly isn't the only one. Liberty's Kitchen started in July 2009 with just two students. Since then, the school has served 200 students out of an applicant pool of more than 800.

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