Giving The Next Generation
a Strong Start
The largest group of students participated in this year’s Culinary Institute of New York at Monroe College scholarship competition
By Alexandra Zendrian
Dean Costantino is encouraged by the caliber of students participating in these competitions in recent years and it’s been noted that the high schools’ junior classes are even more accomplished and larger than those of graduating seniors. mystery baskets (although they always include chicken) to create a meal within an hour. ACF-LI chapter members act as coaches of the teams. This is the 10th year The Culinary Institute of New York at Monroe College has bestowed scholarships to high school students via a one-hour-long cooking competition. Teams of two or three students are given ore than $700,000 in scholarships -- $712,000 to be exact – were awarded at M the 32nd annual American Culinary Federation Long Island Chapter (ACF-LI) Gala in March. The Culinary Institute of New York at Monroe College Dean Frank Costantino noted that 30 students competed for these scholarships, three times higher than the usual 10 students who typically participate.
For students interested in this scholarship opportunity, Dean Costantino advises asking their BOCES instructors about it. Constantino’s admissions application for him. When he went to the bursar’s office and heard the cost of tuition, he had another look on his face, and it wasn’t good. At the time his dad had cancer and he knew he couldn’t go home to his parents asking for money. Someone told him about a scholarship opportunity that involved writing an essay and that enabled Dean Constantino to go to culinary school. For Dean Constantino, doling out scholarships -- the largest of which this year was $40,000 to the winning team members – warms his heart, recalling that someone gave him a similar chance to go to school. When he was a junior in high school, a guidance counselor said he wasn’t fit for college but then he noticed a classmate had applied to culinary school and it piqued his interest. After seeing the kitchens at City Tech, he was blown away and a staff member, noticing the look on his face, practically filled out Dean
HOSPITALITY NEWS MAY | Page 19
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