Jesse Davy

Jesse began his schooling in Year 9 and finished in Year 13. There were a number of teachers that significantly contributed to shaping who Jesse is today. They included: Josh Badger-PE Teacher, Cameron Stuart-English Teacher, Christine Peterson-Maths Teacher, Denise Brown-Form Teacher & Brett Zimmerman-Catering Teacher.

Although completing the first CACTUS challenging programme in 2013, it reinforced his abilities and the importance of training, resilience, teamwork, leadership, and motivational skills. Also, Jesse’s parents and now his wife’s parents have been great supporters of his journey. 

Mr Zimmerman of the catering class had been a strong influence in his life. Through the teacher’s enthusiasm, Jesse found a love and a passion for creating food. Mr Zimmerman helped him and guided him to something he loved and provided Jesse with multiple opportunities to learn more about it.  With the inspiration and help from Brett Zimmerman during Jesse’s final year at school, he was encouraged to step into a head chef’s role as soon as he could. 

Once leaving school, Jesse continued to work in different hospitality venues until he became head chef at a local café. This job suits him because he has the opportunity and freedom to be creative to make different types of food.

Jesse discovered Wolfgang Puck, an Austrian chef, Anthony Bourdain, an American chef and Massimo Bottura, an Italian chef on YouTube. These chefs’ cuisine resonated with Jesse, so he decided that he wanted to create the type of food that they made. 

Outside of work Jesse enjoys watching sports, films, listening to music and walking his dogs and of course cooking for his family and friends. 

In 2014, Jesse was extremely proud of the Matthews Cup he received in recognition of the service that he had given to the school. He is also proud of meeting his high school sweetheart at the age of 16, then marrying her at the age of 22. Obviously, Jesse is very pleased with his successful career as head chef and running a kitchen at the age of 23.