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When Richard Grausman decided to pursue a career as a chef, he went to the top – studying at the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris, France.

But after training with the best, he decided being a full-time chef was not really what he wanted to do.

"If I had to cook on a day when I really didn't want to cook, I might start disliking what I was doing," said Grausman. "So I looked around to see what else I could do, and I found that people like James Beard and Michael Field, Leoni Lucas, had changed careers, they were writing and teaching, so I told the head of the school that was my objective; I wanted to teach."

Nineteen years ago, Grausman founded Careers through Culinary Arts, a program now offered in 26 city public schools. The program gives budding chefs the opportunity to learn hands-on and gives them access to scholarships, internships, and, potentially, jobs in some of the city's top restaurants.

"We came from living in the projects and growing up in Harlem and going from hard times," said former student Kelvin Fernandez. "I wouldn't have been able to afford the Culinary Institute of America."

Grausman says many students like Fernandez come from difficult backgrounds and are in need of support and encouragement.

"When they can come into a safe haven, in a school, in a kitchen, and be nurtured, and be told, many of these kids are told for the first time, that somebody likes them, or somebody likes their crepes, or I like that tart, it's delicious, that may be the first praise they have ever had," said Grausman.

Student Jessica Browne got a summer internship at Tabla restaurant in Manhattan through C-CAP. The 17-year-old said it was such a success they asked her to stay on as a prep cook.

She said people seem surprised when she says she wants to be a chef.

"They ask, 'why would you want to do such a rigorous job where you have to stand on your feet for hours?'" said Browne. "And, all I simply say is, 'it's my passion!'"

"When I can see that we can open doors, we can take a student that has a few skills and put them in the hands of a talented chef and see them blossom, or we can send them to a school and see both their minds and their crafts change, that's changing lives," Grausman said.

And so for spicing up the lives of thousands of students by giving them the chance to cook up some success, Richard Grausman is the New Yorker of the Week.

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