EASTON — On Thursday evening, over a dozen fourth and fifth graders walked through Bonheur Ice Cream and Pie in downtown Easton and learned from local chefs of the profession of devoting themselves to sweets.
These students are part of the Chesapeake Multicultural Resource Center After-school Program, a program designed to enrich Hispanic elementary school students of Talbot County.
During the program, students focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics; reading skills; and food supplement nutrition education to ensure they are educated and well prepared for lessons inside and outside of the classroom.
Estela-Vianney Ramirez, assistant director of the after-school program, said she has been working with the program for over a decade, and it is a beautiful experience to help expand the world for these students.
“It’s very rewarding to teach the class,” Ramirez said. “Those memories really stick in their, the students’, minds and enable them to actually give out to the community, too, because some of our volunteers in our after-school program were our students who went through the program 10 years ago.”
Ramirez notes that she sees her former students working in offices and throughout the Eastern Shore, and she is happy to be a part of their development.
During the tour of Bonheur, Chef Tyler Heim brought the students to the kitchen and explained the process of making ice cream and the work that goes into every pint. One by one, students were moved throughout the kitchen and shown the behind-the-scenes of sweet treats and rich desserts.
Julia Foxwell, director of community engagement for Bluepoint Hospitality, said it was a delight for the chefs to share their passion for sweets with the students.
“We have been working with the Chesapeake Multicultural Center for some time on how best to support their initiatives while also providing enriching experiences to their students,” Foxwell said. “Bringing the girls and boys in to learn kitchen basics — from prep to final product — exposes them to new concepts, flavors and perhaps a future passion of their own. Chefs (Harley) Peet and Heim loved hosting the kids in the kitchen and even got a few ideas for new flavors.”
Victoria Gomez Lozano, Hispanic outreach coordinator for Chesapeake Multicultural Resource Center, said this program is important in reaching out to community members who may not know about the center’s services.
“We started this program to give the underserved children of this community the opportunity to have extracurricular activities and to be exposed to a lot of things that they may not have the opportunity to,” Gomez Lozano said. “It’s also a good way to contact their parents and the families in the community as well so they can open up to us and so we can give them our services.”
At the end of the tour, every student was given a scoop of ice cream and a choice of toppings to create their own flavor.
Each student enjoyed the ice cream while laughing with friends.
Student Yerelin Fuentes said she has been in the after-school program for a few years now and loves the chance to learn new things and spend time with her friends outside of class. But what she loves most, she said, is the ability to learn to be a good person.
“They show us how to be a hero,” Fuentes said.
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