Kayleigh West, a senior at Gloucester High School, fulfilled requirements for her Senior Independent Research Study by publishing a cookbook. However, Kayleigh took her project a big step further by selling her books to benefit another student who had been severely hurt during Hurricane Irene in 2011.

Cooking has always been of interest to Kayleigh and putting a cookbook together seemed the logical project to pursue. She said, "I’ve been cooking ever since I could stand in a chair beside both of my grandmothers, Chris Shipley and Brenda Leota. They would let me help and teach me at the same time. I spent three years in culinary classes at Gloucester High School and now I have my own business, ‘Cakes By Kayleigh.’"

According to her mother Jill West, "Kayleigh has known for the past three years what she wanted to do. She has had a passion for cooking ever since age two; and at age 13 she took all of the Wilton Cake Decoration classes. She has been b...