In his poem The Road Less Traveled Robert Frost said “And the traveler comes to a fork in the road and decides which way to go. He chooses the road ‘less traveled by’”. Grace Shave, a senior here at Boro, is now on the precipice in her life that which will define the next chapters of her story. However, before she leaves Boro, let’s get to know her. 

Grace Shave is a senior at Freehold High School within the Culinary Magnet Program. While she was born in California and lived there for three years, she a Freehold native through and through. Like most incoming freshmen, Grace too had some nerves to overcome and hesitations to conquer. Grace said, “Going into high school, I was nervous due to my lack of experience in a kitchen. To be quite honest, I had never really picked up a pan in my life.” 

But like with every obstacle put in front of her, Grace knew she wasn’t alone and had her own Jiminy Cricket along the way. “I had nothing to be afraid of. It was apparent to me that culinary or hospitality was something that I wanted to pursue shortly after starting my freshman year of high school. I owe a great deal of this to my chef instructors, who taught me everything from how to hold a knife, to now learning how to create my own menu and manage a restaurant.” 

Now fast forward: Grace is a senior going to Johnson and Wales University to study baking, pastry arts, and food and beverage management. Despite her excitement to set her plans into motion in the fall, she expresses some nerves and doubt about what her future holds. “Being less than a year away from graduating doesn’t feel real. I think partially Covid and learning at home affected how quickly high school felt. Although I’m sad that I will be leaving Freehold High School, I am excited to see where my future takes me.”

Leaving high school, Grace wanted to make sure to instill some knowledge for freshmen, upcoming freshmen, and underclassmen, “To current or incoming freshmen, I would say, don’t take any minute of your high school experience for granted – because before you know it, it’s gone.” With that in mind, Grace is presently the President of SkillsUSA, a club for culinary students looking to expand their knowledge and experience in culinary. 

When looking to gain knowledge and experience in culinary, Grace spoke about the specific aspects of culinary arts that most interested her. “I love both cooking and baking so much, but I have more of an interest in baking and pastry because of the creative aspect of it. I enjoy making my desserts look visually appealing by decorating them with all sorts of colors and crazy decorations.” 

Grace isn’t all just about culinary; she has a fair share of other hobbies. “In my free time I like to draw, paint, cook, bake, and crochet. Sometimes you could even say that my hobby is finding new hobbies because I am always working on something different.” 

If offered the chance to have dinner with any celebrity, Grace said she’d want to eat with Gordon Ramsay “because he is probably one of the most successful chefs to ever live and I would love to hear about his experience starting his restaurants and how he became so successful.” 

As Grace graduates high school and moves on to Johnson Wales, you might see her working as a Disney World chef in the future. She mentioned, “I would like to work there as a chef, so it is very cool to see all of the possible jobs I could have if I were to work there.“ 

On behalf of your Boro family, we wish you a lifetime of success Grace!