High school, CP restaurant offer valuable internships
More than 200 students take advantage of opportunities, program coordinator says
Pablo Nieto has been working at Provecho Latin Provisions for about two years, but this past year marks his first as a culinary intern there.
Through Crown Point High School’s Internship and WorkBased Learning program, Nieto, 17, along with two other Crown Point High School students, is able to work and get a taste of the different sides of the restaurant business at Provecho.
“The things that I’ve learned and the experiences in service have been amazing, I’m thankful for the people that I have that are teaching me and helping me,” Nieto said.
Nieto, who plans to go to Indiana University to study business, said that he has learned many things in his time at Provecho. When he first started as a bus boy, he said he always looked up to those on the line working and cooking.
“Ever since working there, it was a big dream of mine to pursue that,” Nieto said. “After lockdown, (the owner of Provecho) had offered me a job as a line cook, and of course I was going to take that. It’s been a dream of mine for like two years now. And I have the internship for school so I can get out and work more.”
Currently, more than 200 students at the high school are in the internship and work-based learning program, said Ginny Zega, the coordinator of the program and department chair for Family and Consumer Sciences department.
The program allows students many different options for internships and any business who is interested in being part of it can be added to the program to give students more options to pursue, she said.
“We try to get as many seniors out — in almost like a capstone experience — as possible, to give them hopefully some real-life experiences in the workplace where it would give them an idea if the pathway they were thinking for, mostly for college or careers, was what they actually thought it was going to be,” Zega said.
Zega said she reached out to Provecho to see if they would be interested in being part of the program because she found there wasn’t enough culinary internship
options for students.
“Provecho is right on the square, it’s close to us, and they’re an upscale restaurant,” Zega said. “I really wanted some better opportunities for the culinary students.”
Chris Pappas, owner and chef at Provecho, said there are three internship options currently offered at Provecho through the program: culinary, social media and marketing and general management.
Pappas said he believes the internships provide a learning experience for students while also showing them different avenues they may want to take in the future.
“We took the opportunity to bring these kids on board and teach them the different segments of the restaurant business,” Pappas said. “It has always been a goal to have a program like this, but it was kind of developed by Crown Point High School’s program they already have for their students.”
While there are currently three options for interns, Pappas said he plans to add a fourth in events and sales for students in the next school year.
Pappas, who was born and raised in Crown Point and attended the high school, said having the program at his restaurant is a nice way for him to be able to give back to the community.
“It’s kind of fun for me to give back and I think it’s important, too — we have to invest in our area where we grew up in a little bit and make it better than we left it,” he said. “I think it’s a good opportunity for us to be involved with the community rather than just running business here.”