Students were on hand from Lincoln Culinary Institute, Hartford, Conn.; Le Cordon Bleu, Boston; SUNY Schenectady; and SUNY Delhi, as well as professional chefs from throughout the area. At the end of the day, Monroe Culinary notched 14 more competition medals, including the historic 400th.
“I remember the first group we brought to Long Island in April 2009—17 kids, all winning medals and starting this wonderful tradition—so many competitions later and the students keep getting better and better!” says Costantino.
That concludes the 2012-2013 competition season for Monroe Culinary, which will embark on the state-championship run in a few short months. “The goal is always the same ... we compete to win the state championship and get to the regionals, which will be held in Rhode Island this year,” says Costantino. The road to Rhode Island begins in September.
The Monroe College School of Hospitality Management and The Culinary Arts offers associate degrees in culinary arts, baking and pastry and hospitality management, as well as a bachelor of business administration in hospitality management with concentrations available in tourism and destination management, as well as culinary management. An executive leader master’s degree in hospitality management is also offered.
Currently, approximately 400 students are studying culinary or pastry Arts at Monroe College. The core curriculum in both culinary and pastry culminates with a real-world experience in the college’s dining lab and pastry kiosk, both open to the public. The breadth of electives is vast and includes: charcuterie, garde manger, Italian regional cuisine, French cuisine, chocolates & confections, showpieces and grand buffet and Latin and Caribbean cuisine. The majority of culinary and pastry students stay on for their BBA, and many more are directly admitted into the bachelor’s program, earning their AAS en route.
There are a number of one-of-a-kind curricular and extra-curricular opportunities for students including a competition team that has won more than 350 medals to date, a study-abroad program in Italy and a Disneyworld Internship Program.
Monroe College Culinary Arts classes are taught in the Culinary Arts Center, a state-of-the-art culinary instructional facility. The four kitchen labs on the college’s New Rochelle campus include two à la carte, one banquet and one baking/pastry kitchen. An additional facility includes a dining lab, à la carte kitchen and advanced pastry lab.
Photo (l. to r.): Monroe’s medal-winning students Yocary Luna, Nashali Rivera and Rossella Cangialosi.