How one young woman’s journey from educational deficit to head chef became proof that it is never too late to find your calling.
Quanise P. was thirteen years old when she first walked through Aslan’s doors.
That is older than most of the children we serve. Aslan typically begins working with children at age five, because decades of experience have taught us that the earlier we can build relationship, the more ground we can recover together. By thirteen, a child has often already absorbed years of messages about what they are and are not capable of. By thirteen, the opportunity gap has had time to widen in ways that are real and significant.
Quanise came anyway. And she came every single time our doors were open.
For five years, she showed up for Right Choices Bible study and character development classes. She came to summer day camp and residential Camp Lebanon. She participated in every enrichment experience Aslan offered, biking, cooking classes, boating, field trips, and more. She absorbed every opportunity with the kind of quiet, steady determination that does not always announce itself but never stops moving forward.
In high school, something remarkable happened. Quanise began to give back.
She started volunteering to teach our five-year-old group in Red Bank. Then she expanded her commitment, riding the train after school each day to serve Aslan children in Long Branch and Asbury Park. She showed up for those children the same way Aslan had shown up for her, consistently, faithfully, without being asked twice.
Throughout those years, we paired Quanise with a gifted retired teacher who served as her personal tutor and guide. That relationship gave her stability and encouragement at a time when she needed both. Our tutorial program kept her on track and prevented her from falling further behind.
But the years of lost ground were real. Despite everything Quanise and her tutor built together, she graduated from high school significantly behind grade level. In New Jersey, where nearly one in five high school students reads below proficiency, Quanise’s story is not unusual. What is unusual is what happened next.
Aslan does not measure a child by where they finish high school. We measure them by what they are still capable of becoming.
With our encouragement, Quanise enrolled in Brookdale Community College’s remediation program. She worked hard. She struggled. The educational deficit she carried was years in the making, and no single program was going to close it overnight. Quanise was honest with herself about what she was up against.
So was Aslan.
Because we had watched Quanise come alive in our cooking classes, because we had seen what happened to her face when she was in a kitchen, we helped her find a different door. We helped her enroll in the Art Institute of Philadelphia’s culinary arts program, where her hands-on gifts, her creativity, her discipline, and her love of feeding people could become the foundation of a real career.
Two years later, Quanise graduated with her culinary arts degree.
Today she works as a head chef at two restaurants. And she has gone back to school for additional training, because Quanise P. has never been someone who stops when she reaches a milestone. She has always been someone who keeps going.
That is who she was at thirteen when she walked through our doors. We just made sure she had a place to become it.
Why Your Support Matters
Quanise’s story did not unfold in a single school year. It unfolded over five years of patient, consistent investment from tutors, mentors, and a community that refused to define her by her deficits.
In Monmouth County, where more than 70 percent of the children Aslan serves qualify for free or reduced-price meals, that kind of long-term commitment is not optional. It is the only thing that works.
Right now, children are at the very beginning of their own journeys, carrying the same weight Quanise carried, waiting for a community to see past it to what they are capable of becoming. Your gift to the Aslan Alumni Fund funds the tutoring sessions, the cooking classes, the mentoring relationships, and the long, faithful investment that turns potential into purpose.
Quanise did not give up on herself. Aslan did not give up on her. With your support, we will not give up on the next one.
Give to the Aslan Alumni Fund today.
TAKE THE SURVEY
If you are an Aslan alumnus, your story matters more than you may realize. The foundations and grant-making organizations that fund Aslan’s work ask one question above all others: What happens to the children after they leave?
You are the answer. And we need your voice on record.
The Lion’s Pride Alumni Survey is short, completely confidential, and reported only in general terms. No names, no personal details, and nothing shared publicly without your explicit written permission. Your responses directly help Aslan secure the funding that keeps our programs running for the next generation of children in Monmouth County who need us.
Only a few minutes. A lifetime of impact.
