HCCC to honor Jersey City superintendent

At the 12th annual Holiday Scholarship Extravaganza at Hudson County Community College (HCCC), HCCC Foundation will give its 2009 Distinguished Service Award to Jersey City Public Schools superintendent Charles T. Epps Jr. The award was created to recognize the efforts of individuals and organizations to improve life for the people of Hudson County.

Epps served as a member and the chairperson of HCCC's board of trustees for 18 years, making him one of the longest serving trustees in the school's history. In addition to founding the Opportunity Knocks Twice program that enables qualifying graduates from Jersey City Public Schools to attend college for free, Epps has served as a trustee on trustee on boards including Hudson County Schools of Technology, the National Conference for Community & Justice and Jersey City Medical Center.

The event will take place Dec. 3 at 6:00 p.m. in HCCC's Culinary Arts Institute/Conference Center.

California culinary students invited to compete in garlic challenge

In honor of the upcoming Super Bowl XLIV, Christopher Ranch LLC is challenging culinary students at The California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Los Angeles and The Art Institute of California - Orange County to enter its Garlic Gridiron Challenge with an original Super Bowl party recipe incorporating garlic.

Students can submit recipes between Dec. 1 and Jan. 18. They must use at least five cloves of Christopher Ranch heirloom garlic in the recipe, and Christopher Ranch will provide $200 for ingredients. The first, second and third place winners will be announced during halftime of the Super Bowl on Feb. 7 via Christopher Ranch's social media outlets. The first place winner will receive $500, the second place winner will receive $200, and the third place winner will get $100.

For more information, send an e-mail to Angie Hanson at angie.hanson@christopherranch.com.

Chicago congressman addresses CHIC graduates

U.S. congressman Danny Davis delivered the commencement address at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago's (CHIC) 2009 fall graduation ceremony. Davis, whose district includes downtown Chicago, addressed the 350 graduates among a total audience of 2,000 on Nov. 15 at the Chicago Marriott Grand Ballroom.

Congressman Danny Davis speaking to CHIC graduates*

In his speech, Davis spoke about the culinary skills each graduate was exposed to during their time at CHIC and their "portability" in today's economy. He quoted an unattributed poem called "Skills."

*Photo courtesy of CHIC chef-instructor Marilyn Santos-McNabb.

ProStart students to intern with Guy Fieri

The Illinois Restaurant Association (IRA) has selected ProStart students from Simeon Career Academy and Tilden Career Community Academy High School to intern with Food Network star Guy Fieri at the Dec. 3 Rosemont, Ill. stop of "The Guy Fieri Roadshow," a tour celebrating food and rock 'n' roll.

The students will work with Fieri's team to help prep food before the show and be on hand behind the scenes to help during the show. The IRA selected the participating students based on their talent and commitment to the restaurant industry.

"We are thrilled to have two Chicago Public Schools take part in The Guy Fieri Roadshow and represent our state’s ProStart program on such a prominent stage," said Sheila O’Grady, president of the IRA, in a statement. "This is a great opportunity for the CPS students, and we are grateful to Guy Fieri and the Food Network for their support in developing the future stars of Illinois' restaurant industry."

For more information, visit www.guyfieri.com.

NRAEF seeks scholarship money donors

The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) is seeking general contributions from foodservice industry members to its Scholarship Program. The NRAEF Scholarship Program funds scholarships for high school and college students.

For more information or to donate, visit www.nraef.org/giving/scholarships.

The Secchia Institute presents leadership award to APPCA's Wallace

First-year GRCC culinary-arts students flank APPCA's Candy Wallace (holding her Leadership Award) and chef-instructor Audrey Heckwolf, who will teach the new personal/private-chef elective that launches at The Secchia Institute in Grand Rapids in January 2010.

Candy Wallace, founder and executive director of the American Personal & Private Chef Association (APPCA), was honored by The Secchia Institute for Culinary Education at Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC), Grand Rapids, Mich., with the culinary-arts program's 2009 Leadership Award on Nov. 9.

The award, which acknowledges Wallace's pioneering contributions to identifying, building and promoting the emerging career paths of personal and private chef, was founded by GRCC's Hospitality Education Department in 1990 as the Distinguished Fellow Award. Past recipients include television cooking personalities and authors Martin Yan and Graham Kerr as well as foodservice-industry luminaries and celebrity chefs from abroad.

Wallace visited The Secchia Institute to deliver an overview on career opportunities for aspiring personal and private chefs to approximately 100 culinary-arts students. The presentation coincided with the institute's unveiling of a new elective focusing on personal and private cooking and business operations for interested students pursuing an associate degree in culinary arts and culinary management.

"It was important to us to recognize Chef Wallace for her life's work in developing comprehensive training materials for those who want to pursue the career paths of personal and private chef," says Randy Sahajdack, director of The Secchia Institute. "We are witnessing tremendous interest among both students who are considering a profession in food as well as established professionals in other fields who desire a life change. I'm amazed at how much meaningful, helpful information has been created by Chef Wallace that we will not have to create, ourselves, to meet growing demand. She is truly the leader in this emerging industry."

The new, seven-week personal/private-chef elective to be offered in the final quarter of the degree program launches with the January 2010 term. The course will be taught by chef-instructor Audrey Heckwolf, who was a private chef for a prominent Grand Rapids family for more than six years before joining GRCC in 2006 as assistant professor for advanced tableservice through the school's public fine-dining restaurant, The Heritage. In her current role, Heckwolf oversees evening service for the award-winning restaurant and teaches service to students enrolled in GRCC's culinary- and hospitality-degree programs offered through The Secchia Institute.

Much of the elective's instruction will come from The Professional Personal Chef: the Business of Doing Business as a Personal Chef (John Wiley & Sons, 2008), the first definitive textbook for prospective personal chefs, written by Wallace and chef-instructor Gregory C. Forte, CEC, CCE, of Daytona State College in Daytona Beach, Fla. Secchia Institute graduates who have successfully completed the elective will receive a certificate from APPCA and be eligible for full membership in the organization, affording them access to a wealth of business-building resources that include proprietary Personal Chef Office business-management software and online community forums linking successful personal and private chefs nationwide. Additionally, for graduates who launch personal-chef businesses, APPCA will promote them through its online Find a Personal Chef function.

Wallace founded the American Personal Chef Association in 1996 as the first significant national effort to recognize the impact of personal chefs on Americans' evolving lifestyles and to provide career and management training to those who aspire to become personal chefs with their own businesses. She forged the positioning of personal chefs as culinary professionals, culminating in 2002 with a formal partnership with the American Culinary Federation to award certification to qualified personal chefs. The following year, she was honored with the International Association of Culinary Professionals' Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 2006, Wallace earned additional industry accolades by formally acknowledging the contributions of private chefs to American society and addressing their specific professional needs by restructuring her organization to become the American Personal & Private Chef Association.

Collins College Harvest Celebration 2009 to honor hospitality leaders

The Collins College of Hospitality Management at Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona, Calif., will host Harvest Celebration 2009 on Nov. 21 to honor three top leaders in the hospitality industry while raising money for Collins College students.

Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, will receive the Hospitality Leader of the Year Award; Steve Slater, vice president and general manager of Southern Wine & Spirits of Southern California, will be honored with the Robert Mondavi Wine & Food Award; and Margaret Bailey, senior vice president of government services for Capital Hotel Management, will receive the college's Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award. Guests at the event will be able to to bid on items that directly impact students such as scholarships and classroom equipment. The event also will feature a live auction with exclusive hospitality packages.

Harvest Celebration 2009 will take place at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa. For more information, visit the Collins College Web site.