It’s like being the new kid on the block for Chef Christal Jett. She is the new Culinary Specialist in the Food Service Department of the Gloucester County Schools. Christal came to her position with a great deal of experience in the culinary world.

As a teenager, Christal worked in her stepmom’s Sandpiper Restaurant in White Stone, her home town. “It was there I learned about cooking and liked doing it.” She moved on to work at the North Star Grill in Kilmarnock. Realizing this was for her, Christal entered Johnson & Wales Culinary Institute in Norfolk. Upon graduation she took off. On what would become the first of many world trips, she moved to Hawaii. Here Christal did private cooking for five years.

Returning home, it was time to open her own restaurant and she did so. For 10 years, Christal owned and operated the Town Bistro. “You know,” she explained, “after a while you feel burned out.” Leaving the restaurant business, Christal took a job with Middlesex County. “When...