Valentina Figueiredo Pechulis Scholarship

This scholarship is established by her loving husband Joseph for Valentina Figueiredo Pechulis to lend support to a hard working student struggling to pay college costs out of their own earnings and acquire a Culinary Arts Degree. A person who has a heart-felt love of cooking, baking, serving food and bringing enjoyment to all by using their skills and creativity. Hopefully it will assist someone who has faced hardships in life and understands the meaning of self achievement. It is offered in honor of a loving lady who grew up in the mountains of Portugal, then immigrated to the U.S. at age fifteen. She literally began her cooking career at age 7 out of necessity by killing, plucking, cleaning a chicken, then making soup and serving it to her seriously ill mother. Building on her love of cooking and baking, Valentina taught herself the culinary skills that enabled her to become a professional chef. She developed her own personal recipes by experimenting with various ingredients and mixtures; especially when making her fantastic tasting soups. Tina was adept at preparing foods of various ethnicities such as Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Polish, French, etc. beside her own Portuguese heritage. She was an extraordinary baker, making breads (whole wheat, pumpernickel, white, rolls, sweet breads) and desserts (fruit tarts, cherry cheese cake, pies, cakes) of awesome flavor. Tina has since continued to infuse her food with a matchless ingredient of love whenever preparing the many culinary creations to be enjoyed by all.