Being a Collin College student offers a wealth of opportunities, such as meeting industry partners firsthand and job opportunities as soon as you graduate. That’s the case for many Collin College students, no matter the program.
Rich Vana is the owner and general manager of The Heritage Table, an upscale casual eatery in downtown Frisco. Before the pandemic, Vana worked with the Culinary Arts program at the Frisco Campus to give tours of his restaurant to culinary students so they could see the comprehensive set up, what the execution looked like at mealtimes, and have a conversation with his chef. After one of the tours, students came up to him and asked about job openings.
“At the time, we only had one job opening and from that tour with Collin College we ended up with our first line cook, Leon Van, and he’s been with us for about a year and a half. He’s now our sauté/grill cook,” said Vana.
Van received his Associate of Applied Science in Culinary Arts from Collin College in the summer of 2020. He served eight years in the U.S. Army as a culinary specialist, and that is where he said he found his love for the profession.
“When I was a child, I remembered helping my mother cook in the kitchen,” Van said. “I taught myself while in the barracks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Fortunately for me, the skills I learned set me up to become an advanced culinary instructor during my time there. Afterward, I decided to continue with my pursuit of culinary knowledge and apply to Collin College.”
Van said the Collin College culinary program helped him expand his culinary knowledge with classes such as International Cuisine.
“I was able to learn new types of cuisines and find out ways to incorporate certain cooking techniques into my current style,” Van said. “It also allowed me to learn the front of the house portion through the Red Room Dining course.”
Vana has gone on to hire two more Collin College alumni, Jack Jasek and Chelsea Cicio, to be line cooks at The Heritage Table.
“What I look for are people who have aptitude and passion, and they have both,” Vana said of the Collin College alumni. “They come in not just wanting to create but also understanding the fundamentals of how a restaurant operates. They take pride in their work, and it’s shocking how much they do, and that’s the most I could possibly ask for.”
Dion Williams was looking for a construction program in the area and was considering enrolling at the University of North Texas but, by happenstance, he decided to look into Collin College’s program. He liked the affordable tuition and flexible schedule that Collin offered.
“I wanted a career where every day (or project) was different, so I wouldn’t be sitting all day or every day. I reveled in the fact that I would be able to see and touch the product of my work,” Williams said.
In May 2021, Williams graduated from the college with an Associate of Applied Science in Construction Management and began work soon after as a project engineer with KWA Construction.
KWA Construction has been partnering with Collin College for a year. The company attended the college’s fall and spring job fairs in 2021, which is where Williams learned about the business.
“Collin College is located close to our office and some of our projects,” said Bridgitte Castorino, employee experience manager at KWA Construction. “The students we have met from Collin College have been dedicated, eager individuals who are looking for a place to work hard and grow professionally.”
When hiring employees, Castorino said that the company looks for people who are driven to excel and continuously learn, passionate about the work they do, and ready to join the community they have built within KWA Construction.
“The students and staff we have met through Collin College events have been an absolute pleasure to get to know and work with,” Castorino said. “The program prepares the students to be successful while setting them up for continuous growth and experiential learning along the way.”
Williams said he enjoys being part of all the phases of a project as a building is constructed from the ground up.
“The construction management program at Collin College exposed me to a lot of different parts of construction and gave me a solid foundation to build upon,” he said.
For more information about Collin College academic programs, visit www.collin.edu.