Chef Reginald Martin, culinary-arts instructor at Westside High School in Houston, Texas, is the recipient of the Texas Restaurant Association Education Foundation’s 2013 Educator Excellence Award. Martin has been leading Westside’s program since 2008 and has more than 100 students enrolled in the program. 

The Educator Excellence Award is presented to an educator who has made significant contributions to culinary education through both an unwavering dedication to students and a strong presence in the community using the Texas ProStart curriculum.

“Reggie works tirelessly to provide the most rewarding culinary and hospitality education possible for his students,” says Jerry Walker, TRA Education Foundation chairman and owner of Lunada Tex-Mex Grill, Dallas. “According to his students, he has taught them professionalism, teamwork, ethics and leadership skills. These are skills that they will take with them no matter what career path they pursue.”

Martin is also a successful business owner, and his industry experience and connections with other industry leaders allows his students to engage in unique learning opportunities and gain real-world experience.

“It is a tremendous honor to be recognized by my peers in the education and restaurant industry,” Martin says. “Receiving this award really validates our students’ achievements in the Texas ProStart program. We have worked extremely hard at Westside High School to challenge our students in the classroom through the Texas ProStart curriculum to prepare them for careers in the hospitality and restaurant industry. This award is a daily reminder for me to strive for excellence as I educate the young culinarians that will be the future of our industry.”

The award was presented at the 2013 Southwest Foodservice Expo, June 24, in Dallas. Texas ProStart is an industry-based high school culinary arts and restaurant management program that prepares students for careers. Currently, the program is offered in more than 200 Texas high schools, reaching more than 15,000 students annually.

PHOTO: (l. to r.) Linda Bebee, Texas Beef Council; Don Courville, Auto-Chlor; Reginald Martin; Earl Mulley, TRA Education Foundation chairman.

The great work of chefs and those in the hospitality industry is often gone once guests leave the restaurant, but a new Hall of Fame at the esteemed Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago will showcase the work of the best in the industry. Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago has been chosen to house the new International Food & Beverage Forum “Hall of Fame.”

Launched June 23, the new International Food & Beverage Forum Hall of Fame provides international recognition for prestigious chefs, restaurateurs, hoteliers and other food and beverage personalities. The Hall of Fame features certificates, historic menus, commemorative plates from special dinners held around the world, and other items to showcase the success of these respected professionals. 

“The new International Food & Beverage Forum Hall of Fame is a gem to share with current and prospective students, as well as visitors to our school,” says Kirk T. Bachmann, president of Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago. “It is an honor for us to permanently house this collection on our campus, as it will serve as a great source of inspiration and a valuable resource to aid in our students’ professional development.” 

The grand-opening celebrations began with a 20^th-anniversary gala dinner on June 22 at Technique restaurant on the campus of Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago. A ribbon-cutting ceremony followed the next day with remarks from Dr. hc Kurt H. Fischer, founder of the International Food & Beverage Forum. “Le Cordon Bleu is a perfect match for the International Food & Beverage Forum as both organizations share a passion for excellence in the hospitality industry,” Fischer says. “The Chicago location is an ideal home for the International Food & Beverage Forum Hall of Fame to showcase the great work of food and beverage industry personalities who have come before these students and will fuel their passion for the industry.”

Gabriela Grande, a culinary-arts student at Monroe College in the Bronx, N.Y., has added a victory in the “Lead Like Mike” competition to her list of impressive culinary accomplishments. Grande was the 2010 America’s Best High School Chef winner, a C-CAP student from Food and Finance High School, and the first Monroe culinary student to compete at the American Culinary Federation’s Northeast Regional Conference, where she won a gold medal and finished second overall. 

Grande attended the 2013 ACF National Convention in Las Vegas, July 21–25, where Michael Ty, CEC, AAC, outgoing president, served as her personal mentor.  Grande, a member of the ACF Long Island Chapter, was selected as winner of the “Lead Like Mike” contest from a group of four other semifinalists chosen from 140 applicants nationwide.

Eligible applicants had to be either a first-, second- or third-year full-time culinary student enrolled in a degree-granting culinary program at a university or college, or an apprentice in an American Culinary Federation Education Foundation apprenticeship program; an ACF member; and at least 18 years old. Entrants submitted a signed letter of endorsement from their dean or department chair, as well as a 500-word essay describing why they aspire to be a culinary leader and how working with Ty at the 2013 ACF National Convention would help them reach their goal.

The American Meat Institute Foundation (AMIF) on July 24 released an updated version of the AMI Foundation Recommended Animal Handling Guidelines & Audit Guide:  A Systematic Approach to Animal Welfare, July 2013 Edition.

AMI’s Animal Welfare Committee collaborates regularly with guideline author Temple Grandin, PhD, professor of animal science at Colorado State University, to determine what changes and clarifications are needed based upon real-world use. The audit underwent a major overhaul in 2010 when a transportation audit was added. The audit was fine-tuned in the August 2012 edition and fine-tuned even further in the July 2013 edition.

In the latest edition, users will note a number of changes that are detailed on page four of the new document:

• A clarification has been added that farrowing on trucks should be counted just as calving and lambing are.
• A new category called “ambulatory disabled animals” has been added to Core Criteria Six of the Transportation audit to track animals that can still walk and are not severely injured, but appear lame and have some impairment of movement.
• Under Core Criteria 2 of the Sheep Transportation Audit, an omission of “compartments gated” was corrected.

The new edition has received an updated certification from the Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization (PAACO). The guidelines were the first and remain the only association-authored animal welfare guidelines certified by PAACO.

“We are proud of our guidelines’ long history in encouraging continuous improvement in animal handling and welfare in meat-packing plants and of our continuing effort to make this a living, breathing document that is improved and refined based upon new knowledge and real-world experience,” says AMI Animal Welfare Committee chairman Rob Elder, PhD, director of HACCP, Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance at Seaboard Foods. 

To access the new guidelines, visit www.AnimalHandling.org.

At its 13th-annual Educator of the Year Awards, Career Education Corporation (CEC) (NASDAQ: CECO) honored some of the finest instructors among its more than 6,000 faculty members nationwide for their dedication to student success.

Faculty, staff, students and administration submitted more than 600 nominations for Educator of the Year.  A group of 30 internal reviewers then assessed more than 200 nominee applications. Winners were selected in each of four categories: Academic Leadership, Community Service, Instruction and Student Success.

“We take great pride in our ability to enhance our students’ lives through education, and the quality of our faculty plays a significant role in that effort,” says Scott Steffey, president and chief executive officer of Career Education. “The instructors we’ve honored with the Educator of the Year award are an inspiration—true examples of the power an excellent teacher with passion, knowledge and real-world experience can have on a student.”

Austin Yancey, CEC, of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago, earned Educator of the Year in the Academic Leadership category. Yancey has taken his love of cooking from his grandmother’s kitchen to the heights of Alinea, one of the finest restaurants in the world, located in Chicago. There he experienced the pressures of working under a world-renowned chef with exacting standards.  He later returned to Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago—where he received his formal culinary training—to help educate future culinary professionals.  But his work has gone far beyond his classroom duties.

Yancey organized the creation of the Le Cordon Bleu Chicago Competition Club in March 2010. Over the past three years, hundreds of students have participated in the club under Yancey’s instruction, and the competition team has earned many medals in culinary events while providing invaluable training to students.  Students wanting to work in fine dining receive practical experience under the type of pressure they would face in a top-tier restaurant, but in an environment where a mistake is just a learning experience.  His commitment to students in the club includes working with them for six hours or more every Saturday, in addition to his regular weekday class schedule.

Yancey holds an associate degree in applied science in culinary arts as well as a bachelor’s degree in culinary management, both from Le Cordon Bleu. He also holds the designation of Certified Executive Chef from the American Culinary Federation.

On May 11, more than 40 students and professional chefs converged on the New Rochelle Campus to compete in the Greater New York Culinary Challenge (GNYCC) at the Culinary Arts Center. Besides medals awarded at this competition, there was another award at stake: The Dean’s Cup. This award, given by Dean Frank C. Costantino to the outstanding student culinarian, was on the line for 10 of Monroe's most accomplished young culinary competitors.

The competition was an "iron chef" format that had the students preparing an entrée from a basket of ingredients. First-year student Rossella Cangialosi, Barry Tech BOCES, won the inaugural Dean’s Cup with a silver medal for her sautéed chicken breast with mushroom sauce. Runner-up to the cup, also a silver-medal winner, Sade Aguila, 2011 America's Best HS Chef from Food and Finance, recorded a milestone medal, earning the 400th competition medal won by Monroe Culinary since April 2009.

Silver medals were also won by Enmely Soriano (Passaic County Tech), Kencito Vernon (Food and Finance), Yocary Luna, 2012 America’s Best High School Chef from Food and Finance, and Kimani Hines, Gateway School. Bronze medals in the Dean’s cup were won by Katherine Taveras, C-CAP Philly and captain of the 2013 Junior Culinary Team, along with her teammates, Carmen Albino, Port Richmond C-CAP, and Laura Sanchez, Passaic County Tech. Lealy Irizarry, Truman High School, also earned a bronze medal.

Other Monroe Culinary students were vying for medals, as well. Alberto Obando, LIC High School, earned his first individual student medal, a silver, for his trio of Cornish game hen. It was student gold medals for Jovita Palafox, Port Richmond C-CAP student, whose chocolate/banana cake was a favorite of the judges, and Nashali Rivera, Food and Finance C-CAP student, who impressed the judges with her Cornish hen dish. Rivera earned the highest score posted on the day. Brenda Lara, Port Richmond C-CAP student, earned her first professional gold medal in pastry for her tropical entremets with mango-caramel glaze. Lara registered higher scores in her category than the professional chefs who competed.