Dearborn teen becomes youngest to graduate from Henry Ford culinary program
(CBS DETROIT) - An aspiring chef is taking the culinary world by storm by becoming the youngest student to graduate from The Henry Ford College culinary program.
At the age of 16, Zayneb Abu-Khader, of Dearborn, walked the stage in what she says is a dream come true.
"I'm the youngest graduate to date for the Henry Ford Culinary Program. It's a pretty cool feeling. I'm not going to lie," Zayneb says.
What first began as tossing frozen vegetables in the kitchen turned into tasty and tender entrees and a passion for pastry.
"Me and my mom can like throw it down together. We always kind of grew up being with family cooking together. At age like 10-11, I started," Zayneb says.
But as fun as the ride has been so far, Zayneb says getting to this point has come with some challenges.
"My first semester was really hard. Not going to lie. I was still going through being a teenager and dealing with like having to be mature enough to be going to college," she says.
But her biggest hurdle while trying to hold it down in the kitchen is earning everyone's respect.
"A lot of people in the field thought of me less in some way because I was younger but I never let it bother me and I never let it stop me. Anytime someone would, I would literally not even give them the face for it because I knew that what I was doing was great. No one can dull my sparkle," she said with a smile.
Moving forward, Zayneb says her dream is to travel the world, study food and turn what she has learned into her very own restaurant or bakery one day.