ABOUT BRIAN
Hello everybody, my name is Brian James
Kelly. I am currently a student at
Frederick Community College and working towards an associate’s degree in
Biology. I graduated from Urbana High School in Frederick County, Maryland in
2004. After high school, I began
bouncing around part-time jobs until I realized that I would like to pursue a
career in culinary arts. The first
restaurant that I worked at was Tom and Rays, which is a small country-style
diner, in Damascus, Maryland.
After working there for a month or two I applied for a job at Whiskey
Creek Golf Course, which is a very prestigious golf course in Ijamsville,
Maryland, that was designed by Ernie Els. In the fall of 2004, after graduation,
I enrolled in FCC’s Culinary Arts program. My instructor told the class that a local fine-dining
restaurant was looking for help and I was the first to go apply or that
position. The restaurant was
Monocacy Crossing Restaurant and Bar.
Monocacy Crossing is where my culinary career and the adult years of my
life began.
The head chef at Monocacy Crossing,
Ronald Regan, is an extremely intelligent, caring and supportive person who has
helped mold me into the person that I am today. I stopped taking culinary classes at FCC shortly after I
began working at the restaurant because I was learning so much more in the
real-life kitchen environment than I was cooking for six hours a week at school. Since my boss had graduated from the
Culinary Institute of America (CIA), the most prestigious culinary school in
the country, in Hyde Park, New York he urged me to enroll in the school. In 2007, I began my stint at the CIA
and at first loved the classes, but eventually I lost the love for cooking that
I once had because working in a restaurant for the rest of your life is not the
best career if you want to support and spend time with a family.
I am still currently working at Monocacy
Crossing because the hours are flexible with a school schedule. Two years ago I started taking classes
at FCC again and am pursuing a biology degree, another field that I am very
interested in and find promising.
Once I get my associates degree in biology, I plan on transferring to
Hood College to complete a Bachelors degree. One day I plan on working in the biotechnology industry or
working with any kind of living creatures.
