DC's Hottest Summer Camp for Kids? Culinary School.

"While many kids dabble in baking at a young age-cracking eggs, adding ingredients, licking spatulas-Noah's interest was different. "He was baking completely on his own by first grade," says Lew. "Once he could read, that was it." That passion for cooking and baking held strong for Noah, now a 14-year-old freshman in high school. To nourish his love of all things culinary, his parents sought out summer cooking programs."

"And last summer, before entering high school, he attended his favorite camp yet: Summer Culinary's DC camp, which hosts students ages 12 to 17 to learn from chefs and experience line-cooking in professional kitchens. "We'd learn what we were cooking that day, make lunch in the morning, eat it, then make dinner and dessert in the afternoon," Noah says. The week culminated in a Chopped-style challenge in which students prepared three courses featuring a secret ingredient: sweet potato."

Noah began baking around age four and was baking independently by first grade. He is a 14-year-old high school freshman who pursued summer cooking programs to develop culinary skills. Early programs included Taste Buds Box and Cookology, where he worked on cupcakes, quesadillas, baking intensives, and global-cuisine workshops. He attended Summer Culinary's DC camp for ages 12 to 17 to learn from chefs and practice line-cooking in professional kitchens. Camp days included preparing lunch and dinner, and the week culminated in a Chopped-style challenge using sweet potato. His group's menu featured ceviche with sweet-potato chips, roasted pork loin, and sweet-potato panna cotta. He plans to return to Summer Culinary.

Read at Washingtonian - The website that Washington lives by.