MCC partners with high school in fundraising competition

Monroe Community College (MCC) president Anne M. Kress traded in her administrator's hat for a sous chef's toque last month to take part in the local East High School Iron Chef Competition, Rochester, N.Y., to earn scholarship money for future MCC students. Kress was among 10 celebrity sous chefs supporting five East High culinary students battling for the title of Iron Chef during the one-hour cooking competition.

MCC's president Anne M. Kress (l) chops fresh herbs for a chicken dish as MCC student Michaela Novak looks on*

Quanisha Robinson, 18, earned the grand prize: a full scholarship to attend MCC. The $2,900 scholarship was made possible by donors to the MCC Annual Fund at the Monroe Community College Foundation. The event organizer was Latinas Unidas, an organization that fosters opportunities for Hispanic women and girls in the greater Rochester area, in collaboration with East High School. Proceeds benefit the high school's culinary arts program.

(l to r) Student chef Shanik Session, 16, Anne Kress and Kim Dyce-Faucette, Rochester City School District chief of staff*

*Photos courtesy of Gerald M. Brinkman/Monroe Community College, Rochester, N.Y.