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Recipe For Success: Culinary Grad Launches Career With US Navy

Recipe For Success: Culinary Grad Launches Career With US Navy

From his younger days of cooking up a storm in his mother’s kitchen, to an honorable career as a specialized chef for the US NAVY, Louis Regus credits a U.S. Department of Labor youth program for steering him in the right direction.

At a young age of 17, Regus learned the art and science of professional cooking as a student in the Culinary Arts program at the Miami Job Corps Center of South Florida.  During this time, he also was enrolled in a GED program where he had the opportunity to complete his high school education.  Yet according to Regus, before coming to the program his future was uncertain.  “I was getting into a lot of trouble.  Without it, I probably wouldn’t be on track, and I feel very grateful that it all started here at Job Corps,” said Regus.

 In 2008, after being sworn in as a Navy officer, he was first enlisted as a seaman and has since climbed the ranks to his current position as a CS3: Culinary Specialist-3rd Class Petty Officer.  Yet for Regus, the promotions are just one of many assetts he attributes to his career with the Navy.  Opportunities to travel, camaraderie among his peers and the sense of making a difference are others.  “At Job Corps, I learned to love the art of cooking by watching and working with my Culinary instructor, Chef Tom Stuebe.  He taught me a lot.  And now, here I am, onboard a Navy Ship Aircraft Carrier, cooking for 5,000 people every day.”

 Life with the Navy has its challenges with the thousands of officers on board, deployments at sea and the high pressure service demands of working along 30 others chefs and Regus’s responsibility of supervising his junior staff.  Yet Regus says he thrives on the fast passed, adrenaline charged environment no matter how hard the waves hit at times.  In recalling one of his ships deployments, Regus said “life on board at sea for 105 days on the ‘floating city’ was a little rough at times.”  Through the Navy, Regus has traveled to Dubai in the United Emirates, Capetown, South Africa and Portsmith, England.  The majority of the time, though, his ship is stationed on the East Coast of the US, in NorFolk, Virginia.

 In December of 2010, Regus came back to the Miami Job Corps to thank those who impacted his life and revisit old memories of the time when he was a young student.  He also met with the programs current Culinary Arts students, and shared his experiences with them.

As for the future, Regus said he has just enrolled for another 3 years with the Navy, and plans to stay a full 20 years before retiring.  He even envisions himself working his post-retirement years as a Sous Chef on a Cruiseliner.

Blog Writer:  Lori M. Trujillo

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