Cooking Up Culture: Keith Barnes Dishes Out Inspiration

PEAK’s mission is to foster leadership skills in young people, and we often see our campers use these skills in a variety of ways. One such example occurred during Culture Connection when frequent PEAK participant, Keith Barnes, stepped up to lead a class of his peers for an afternoon.

Culture Connection is one of PEAK’s more popular school year programs and is meant to expose our young people to different cultures, as well as encourage them to reflect on their own experiences and traditions. This looks like two sessions a week for four weeks, and it often involves bringing in guest presenters or visiting unique locations around Milwaukee. In Spring of 2024, the theme was food, and each week presented a new facilitator. The guest chef is interviewed by the class, then presents their dish and explains why it’s important to them. The class is then led through the process of making the dish. 

That Spring, PEAK held two sessions of Culture Connection back to back, and it just so happened that Keith accidentally signed up for both. He went through the first session normally, enjoying the guest speakers, reflecting on his own culture, and helping make all of the dishes. While the Youth Programs team was happy to have Keith in both sessions, they wanted him to get something new from the experience. “We asked if he would be willing to bring in one of his family recipes that was important to him, or one of his favorite recipes to cook, and he was excited to do so,” explained Maddy Wilson, Director of Youth Programs. This choice took a lot of trust as it would be the first time that a participant ever led a Culture Connection session, but the team was confident in Keith’s ability to take it on. Jiselle Rivera, PEAK’s Camper Support Coordinator, worked with Keith for years both at Lake Valley Camp and in Milwaukee and knew he would do great. "When you love someone, you hold them accountable, and I think he knows that- that we hold him accountable to his best self. I like to believe that that influences how he shows up at camp, because he has a reputation of being a leader." The team shared Jiselle’s sentiment, agreeing that Keith would be excellent in an opportunity like this.

Maddy and the Youth Programs team decided to surprise the class with Keith as the guest chef, and they made sure that he was treated the same as all other guest facilitators. Keith was interviewed by his classmates, he introduced Chicken Sliders as his family dish, and then he guided them through the cooking lesson. Like all the facilitators before him, the class called him Chef for the whole session and directed all questions towards him. "He seemed pretty comfortable,” Maddy described, “I think he felt supported in taking on this extra role, it wasn't just thrown on him. He felt comfortable in this space and knew he could get through it." Overall, the session was another great Culture Connection. The campers had fun, Keith cruised through his facilitation, and it ended with them all enjoying some delicious sliders.

It was only one class, but the impact of Keith’s courage is still being felt. Keith opened the door to participant-led Culture Connection and became a trend-setter. "Since Keith is somebody who his peers look to... it made that the cool thing to do. It made being positive and being a leader cool,” said Jiselle. The following Fall, two new participant-led Culture Connection occurred. While the team isn’t sure if this trend will become a permanent feature of Culture Connection, it is obvious that Keith will do an amazing job as a Voyager, and PEAK is excited to see him continue to grow as a young leader.