Hello Dave and welcome to Chef Talk. I'm an Illinois native who's "emigrated" to Wisconsin. Where are you going to school? You'll want to stop in at the Culinary Schools/Culinary students' forum elsewhere on the board.
What gave you the impetus to head off to culinary school? Was there a person or experience that inspired you?
Have a look at the whole site, and don't miss the cooking articles, photo gallery (and the contest going on), blogs, etc. We have a good search tool here too, so let it help you find topics of interest to you.
Welcome!
Mezzaluna
