“ Eckerd made me a better person. Without it, I would probably be dead or in jail. ”
Eckerd Academy Was the Recipe for Success for a Troubled Teenager
Growing up in Pinellas Park, Florida, Robert Hesse got into all kinds of trouble—gangs, drugs, stealing cars. His father was emotionally and physically abusive, and his mother worked three jobs to support him and his sister. Finally, in 1993, his actions caught up with him and he was sent to Eckerd Academy in Brooksville to turn his life around.
“I got my love of cooking just by seeing my mother and grandmother cook, but when I first had my hands in my cooking is when I went to Eckerd Academy and Chef Noel handed me a potato and potato peeler and asked, ‘do you know what you do with that?’” Robert said.
While the responsibility of cooking for himself blew him away at first, he realized by the end of his time there that this is what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Today, he is a celebrity chef after appearing on FOX Network’s “Hell’s Kitchen” television show and is the executive chef at multi-million-dollar restaurants throughout the United States. Robert also does public cooking appearances with pro athletes, and privately catered events for A-list celebrities. He regularly returns to Eckerd Academy to cook for the kids and motivate them to achieve their dreams.
After Eckerd, Robert attended the American Culinary Academy in Lakeland, Florida, and then was accepted as an apprentice at The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, where they only accept between six and eight apprentices a year. He then went on a culinary pilgrimage, cooking at restaurants from coast to coast to hone his culinary talents. It scares him to think about what would have happened had he not gone to Eckerd Academy and feels he would not be the same person he is today.
“Cooking is controlled chaos, and just when you think you’re about to go under, you dig deep and you find what’s inside you and you pull it out in the kitchen, and that’s how I like to live my life. Eckerd made me a better person. Without it, I would probably be dead or in jail.”
