Back To School

We here at Bravotv.com love back to school. So much, in fact, that we asked some of our favorite Bravo celebrities to share their 'back to school' stories.

It's that time of year I refer to as "the madness", only because while The French Culinary Institute is a year-round school, it does slow down in the summer and Fall is always jam-packed with tons of events, with as many as three different events in a day for me. After my vacation, I have to go back to school, but only for a few days before I head to Chicago for Season Four (Yikes! I can't believe it's here already!) It's back to work for everyone. I live in Queens, so there have been kids out and about everyday. Thinking back, I went to summer camp when I was young until I was a teenager (No, I did not go to band camp afterwards...). My fondest memories of when I was very young was having my mom walk my brother and I down to the bus stop at the end of our street. Every year I was armed with a new backpack, writing and drawing supplies, and a fresh pair of sneakers. One of my favorite pieces was a Trapper Keeper with a unicorn and a rainbow on it (or something like that). The best part was seeing my friends and going over what we each did all summer, though I think for the most part we all went to the same summer camp.

Sports were a big part of my youth, so as I got older I was playing a lot of league softball during the summer, traveling around the Tri-State Area with my team. In high school I was on the soccer team so that cut my summer a little short because we started training two or three weeks before high school started.

I think one of the most important summers for me was the summer between my junior and senior year of high school when I went down to NYC to take the Summer Live program at FIT. I spent a month in NY living on the FIT campus, studying several beginner courses on fashion design. The entire experience sold me on New York and fashion design as a college major, and I am not entirely sure I would be where I am today had I not had that experience. I went back for my final year of high school knowing my future lay in the busy city of New York. Best of luck to all of you who are headed back to school. It's an exciting time of year with plenty of opportunities to learn something new.