CHICAGO – A team of five students enrolled in the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College, Chicago, beat 11 other teams to win the Baron H. Galand Culinary Knowledge Bowl and earn gold medals at the American Culinary Federation’s (ACF) 2010 Central Regional Conference in Indianapolis, March 26.
The Kendall College team, consisting of Allison Chikos, Erika Giffin, Sarah Roberts, Jacquie Wallner and Edward Whitney, competed against teams from foodservice-training programs at schools throughout ACF’s Central Region stretching from Minnesota to Louisiana. As Central Regional champion, Kendall’s team—representing The School of Culinary Arts’ certificate, associate and baccalaureate programs in culinary arts and the certificate and associate programs in baking and pastry—will compete for the national title against three other winning regional teams at the ACF’s national convention in Anaheim, Calif., Aug. 2-5. The highest scorer will be named the national ACF Baron H. Galand Culinary Knowledge Bowl winner for 2010.
“This is a win for everyone at Kendall,” says Roberts, a Bachelor of Culinary Arts degree student who captained the Kendall team in Indianapolis. “We worked hard to get here, and we had a blast. I’m very proud of our team, and thankful to everyone at Kendall College who supported us.” Praising in particular chef-instructor and team coach Dina Altieri, CEC, CCE, Roberts says she and her teammates will study and practice diligently for the national competition this summer.
The Baron H. Galand Culinary Knowledge Bowl tests the acumen of culinary-arts students via a “Jeopardy”-style subjects grid that includes challenging culinary, baking, nutrition, sanitation and math questions as well as sensory perception. The competition is named after the late Chef Baron H. Galand, CEC, who served as national president of ACF from 1983 to 1987. First held at the ACF’s 1992 National Convention in Washington, D.C., today the four geographic regions of ACF hold the competition at their respective conferences in winter and spring to qualify teams to compete for the national title at the ACF’s convention in summer.
“Given that none of our students had ever competed in a Knowledge Bowl competition before, this was a tremendous achievement for them—and for Kendall College,” says Christopher Koetke, MBA, CEC, CCE, vice president of culinary-arts programs for Laureate International Universities and dean of Kendall’s School of Culinary Arts. “Our team not only won, but literally was unstoppable. And they were unbelievably fun to watch! Competing for the national Knowledge Bowl title in August against other top regional teams will be an exciting and enriching educational experience for all.”
Source: Kendall College