NEW ORLEANS — Chayil Johnson stood over the pot of collard greens he was cooking with apple-smoked bacon, looking cool even though he still has 18 Cornish hens to roast and a cranberry reduction to whip up.

"I've made this for my family several times," said the 14-year-old student at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. "I'm pretty confident about everything."

NOCCA, as the school is called, draws students from all over the city to its music, dance, fine arts, and cooking classes. It offers them several hours a day of instruction in one of those fields, in addition to their academic work.

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