Monroe College School of Hospitality Management and the Culinary Arts Names America’s Best High School Chef and Pastry Chef
On March 3, 31 high-school students from throughout the New York metro area competed for the distinguished titles of America’s Best High School Chef and Pastry Chef in the fourth-annual competition sponsored by the Monroe College School of Hospitality Management and the Culinary Arts in the Bronx.
The prizes were academic scholarships to attend Monroe College. First-place prize was a full academic scholarship to the Monroe College School of Hospitality Management; second- and third-place prizes were partial academic scholarships worth $3,500 and $2,500, respectively, and prizes for all competitors were partial academic scholarships worth $1,500. Monroe awarded more than $200,000 in scholarships to the contestants.
Yocary Luna of Food and Finance High School in Manhattan was crowned America’s Best High School Chef for her Stuffed Chicken—Teriyaki Style with sauté of fingerling potatoes and string beans.
Laura Sanchez of Passaic County Technical High School, Passaic, N.J., was named America’s Best High School Pastry Chef with her White Coating Chocolate Raspberry Tower, consisting of double-chocolate-chip brownies filled with cannoli cream and sided with French vanilla ice cream.
“I was impressed with all of the entrants, not just the winners,” said Dr. Frank Costantino, CCE, CEC, AAC, dean of the School of Hospitality Management and the Culinary Arts. “They have bright futures in culinary. It’s interesting to note that the students who are currently among the leaders on the Monroe College Culinary teams are former winners of this competition.”
Here’s a list of the winners:
America’s Best High School Chef
First place—Yocary Luna, Food & Finance High School, New York City
Second place—Nashali Rivera, Food & Finance High School, New York City
Third place (tie)—Rossella Cangialosi, East Meadow High School, Long Island, N.Y., and Rondy Mendoza, Truman High School, Bronx, N.Y.
America’s Best High School Pastry Chef
First place—Laura Sanchez, Passaic County Technical High School, Passaic, N.J.
Second place—Chelsea Taylor, Frankford High School, Philadelphia
Third place (tie)—Mikea Rivers, Frankford High School, Philadelphia, and Laura Szanto, Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington, N.Y.