A Young Professional

Darnelle needs two sandwiches to fill him up. A paper bag stuffed with Uncrustables and granola bar wrappers lay cast aside on the table where Darnelle worked on the stubborn peel of his dessert. His slight frame was poised, a gray zip-up bordering his thin blue and gold tie. He sat alone in city hall on lunch break from his work-study job at the Mayor’s Office of Education.

The 14-year-old is a freshman at Cristo Rey High School. The school’s work-study office coordinates with Philly businesses to provide their students professional job opportunities. Each student typically works one day a week, complementing the “college preparatory curriculum of the school.”

This morning, Darnelle called 25 charter schools to inquire about the date and time of their board meetings. He recorded the information for use of the office. He said it’s pretty easy. “I’m looking at it as a day off of school. We’re not doing arithmetic and I don’t have any homework.” Maybe more important to his parents, the job also offsets the cost of his education.

On work-study days the school packs his lunch, but on any other day at Cristo Rey, the students are served something different. “Our lunch would usually be food that we’re served at dinner, like chicken and rice,” Darnelle said. “So it’s healthy and good.” They have a salad everyday, and always fruit for dessert.

Cristo Rey partners with the Vetri Foundation for Children to bring their students healthy, from-scratch lunches served family-style. Chef Q whips up favorites like a spin on chicken fettuccine Alfredo. “I don’t know how they do it, but it’s really healthy,” Darnelle said.

The Foundation’s Eatiquette program has been implemented in ten schools in the Philadelphia region and continues to grow. “I think it’s amazing,” Darnelle said; different than the “nasty old packed chicken” he used to get. “And it makes me bond with my peers ‘cause we pass the stuff around.”

Along with his student/employee roles, Darnell is a bass 1 in the Keystone State Boys Choir. Sound familiar? Also a member of the choir is his friend Bobby Hill who sang for the pope during his weekend visit to Philadelphia. “Yeah, I’m going to ask him about it when I see him Saturday at rehearsal,” Darnelle said. Darnelle travelled to Australia two summers ago with the choir and performed in six cites. He thinks he’ll stay in the choir until he graduates from high school. He’s also hoping to start track (hurdles) and flag football this year.

If he made his own lunch, he would pack Doritos, an Uncrustable (Smucker’s crustless, packaged pb&j), a Hi-C (“the orange-ish flavor”) and an apple (“it has to be green”). If he’s going out, he’ll go with a classic. “Philadelphia is known for their cheesesteak…” he said, putting a fist under his chin and looking up in thought.

He has an hour for lunch, but he got back to work early, tossing his paper bag and checking his phone on the way back to the office.

Note: Those of you reading this who know I worked for the Vetri Foundation, no, I did not plan this as a promotional article. Those of you who know me will also know that these kinds of coincidences happen to me all the time.