SECOND SHIFT · FROM THE FIELD
Westerville, Ohio · Restaurants · Career-tech culinary program
Original reporting: Alexandra Hopkins, Richland Source · October 16, 2026
Mya Gonsalves knew she wanted to cook long before she worked in a professional kitchen, Richland Source’s Alexandra Hopkins reports. After an open house at the Knox County Career Center, which gives high school juniors and seniors hands-on training in a professional-style kitchen, she signed up for its culinary arts program. “I left just saying ‘Yep, I’m doing it,’ no matter what anyone said,” she said.
Under instructor Chef Lance Stalnaker, Gonsalves was named the center’s 2019 Student of the Year and led a student team that placed third at the FCCLA National Culinary Competition in Atlanta, according to the report. She went on to continue her culinary education at Columbus State.
Today she is a chef at NAPA Kitchen + Bar in Westerville and a contestant on the 25th season of “Hell’s Kitchen,” in which every competitor is 25 or younger. She said the career center’s basics, such as cleaning as you go, keeping a tidy station and communicating, “really apply to my everyday career now.” Stalnaker’s advice stuck too: “He always said to me, ‘cook like you cook.’”
Gonsalves told Richland Source that owning a restaurant has been her goal since fourth grade and that the show has given her the confidence to pursue it someday.
Location Decision takeaway
Gonsalves’ path shows what a county career-tech center can feed into a regional labor market: a trained cook who moved from a rural-county program into a suburban Columbus restaurant kitchen. For employers short on skilled kitchen staff, high school CTE programs with strong instructors are an early, low-cost pipeline. This is our analysis; the facts are as reported by Richland Source.
Second Shift tells the stories of people building what’s next through new skills, new careers and second chances. From the Field items are curated from credited reporting, with Location Decision’s perspective. Location Decision Originals are independently reported by our team.
Curated by Location Decision. Originally reported by Alexandra Hopkins, Richland Source, October 16, 2026.
This item was sourced and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed under Location Decision’s editorial standards. Second Shift tracks workforce outcomes to inform our broader editorial analysis. All reporting belongs to the credited journalists; read the original story for the full account.