Childhood memories of the kitchen can be profound.

I fondly remember my grandmother’s small-town Midwestern kitchen filled with the smell of fresh-baked sugar cookies, simmering elderberry jam and, at certain times of the year, fermented sauerkraut.

These early memories of food can light the spark for future careers, says Chef Trinidad Silva, an associate professor and department chair of culinary arts at Los Angeles Mission College in Sylmar. He was inspired by his mom and grandmother, who were amazing cooks, he says, adding that he remembers his grandmother’s freshly made flour tortillas while growing up in Van Nuys.

When Silva asks new students why they enrolled in the program, he often hears stories like his—it’s grandmothers and moms. Students recall favorite Sunday meals, being taught time-honored family recipes and experiencing love around a table, says Silva.

Today I’m on campus for the annual Welcome Back event—the 50th annual—where new and returning students mingle around resource booths as they prepare for the school year. Students are also drawn to the popular mobile wood-fired pizza oven, where Silva oversees culinary students stretching and tossing handmade pizza dough before gently placing the topped pies in the 800° oven.

For nearly a decade, Silva has instructed students here, teaching them to make pizza along with essential culinary techniques, knife skills, classic sauces, pâtisserie and baking, and menu planning.

Like his students, he earned his first culinary degree from a community college culinary arts program. He graduated from Santa Barbara City College and pursued additional training at the New England Culinary Institute. Silva parlayed his education into a career that included cooking at fine-dining establishments, including the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito. For over seven years, he lived on Santa Cruz Island, 32.3 miles off the coast of Ventura, to work as the head chef for the Nature Conservancy philanthropy operation. He was drawn to the job for many reasons, he says, including a love of nature, the island’s natural beauty and supporting environmental conservation.

Before he arrived at LA Mission College, Silva was an instructor for 11 years at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, where he taught culinary arts and pâtisserie baking. The school has since closed, but based on his experience there he’s proud to say the program at LA Mission College provides students a “worldclass education” at a fraction of the cost of private cooking schools. LA Mission College is part of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD).

About 1,500 students a year enroll at the college to pursue an associate degree or certificate in professional baking and pâtisserie, culinary arts or restaurant management. While most students are new high school graduates, there are also adults— sometimes in their 50s and 60s—who are looking for a career change. Silva enjoys the eclectic range of student experiences in the classroom.

At the pizza oven, Silva talks to parents and new students eager to start the semester. Then he tours me through his, and the other faculty members’, work office: an 85,000-square-foot facility with a state-of-the-art design. We walk past an organic urban garden of raised beds with herbs, tomatoes and eggplants; plus 40 avocado trees. He points to a nearby composting area where kitchen scraps are collected to be turned into soil amendments.

Entering the building, we walk through an active kitchen where student workers are finishing a catering job. Practical experience dovetails nicely with classroom lessons and hands-on practice, so students can “earn to learn” through on-campus work as culinary arts student workers, Silva says. “We are also developing an apprenticeship program partnering with the State of California.”

The student café and grill among other areas frequently employ student workers. There’s even a fine-dining restaurant where the public can dine, completely staffed by culinary students supervised by chef instructors.

The public can also cheer for their favorites each spring at the annual Culinary Cup competition, where the culinary arts departments of three LACCD colleges— Los Angeles Trade-Technical; Los Angeles Harbor; and Los Angeles Mission—vie for the prized Golden Toque. Forget the “Top Chef” reality show, this competition is the real deal, says Silva.

We continue the tour by walking through the expansive modular learning kitchens, a baking kitchen, pastry kitchen, garde manger lab, demonstration kitchen and ending with a butchery lab.

I can imagine the noise, cooking aromas and concentration when students and instructors are present.

Silva enjoys watching the students’ excitement as they master a skill, but he’s most excited to see students grow into themselves as culinarians.

“Working in a kitchen is not glamorous; it’s hard work. No matter how good a chef you are, this is what hospitality is all about,” he says, adding “a positive mental attitude and a strong work ethic lead to success.”

He advises students to be on time, dressed and ready. His other advice is equally good for everyone, not just culinary arts students: “Keep your area clean and look people in the eye when you talk with them. Listen and learn. Also, respect yourself and others.”

The next time you’re dining on an especially delicious meal at a restaurant with an enthusiastic staff, you just might be experiencing the passion of LA Mission College culinary arts program graduates. If so, you’re lucky.

To learn more about the LA Mission College culinary arts program or its fine-dining restaurant, visit LAMission.edu/academics/aos/culinary-arts.