Announcing the ICE Student Awards Program

We are continually amazed by the passion and dedication of our students as they set out on new careers in the food industry, and are impressed by where their newly learned skills and hard-work takes them. Now, ICE is proud to announce the launch of the ICE Student Awards Program to publicly recognize our amazing students in the Culinary Arts, Pastry & Baking Arts, Culinary Management and Hospitality Management programs. In each graduating career training class at ICE, three students will be recognized for their accomplishment with an award given out at their class’ senior reception. The awards are meant to recognize students who have displayed exceptional dedication and commitment to their education.

Top Toque is sponsored by Nespresso Business Solutions and is given to the Culinary Arts or Pastry & Baking Arts student who demonstrates excellence in technique, professionalism and industry-preparedness as determined by faculty vote. For Culinary Management and Hospitality Management classes, the award is called the Top Student Award and instructors vote to determine the student who has demonstrated overall excellence in their studies and industry-preparedness.

The Award for Leadership has been graciously donated by Wusthof and is awarded to a student who has demonstrated the highest degree of leadership during his or her time at ICE as determined by student vote. As anyone with experience in a professional kitchen knows, effective leadership is critical for an operation to run smoothly. At ICE we feel that kitchens are run by teams, not individuals.

The Most Likely to Succeed Award recognizes a student who is predicted to be the most successful in the years that follow his or her graduation. This award is based on voting by classmates and instructors. These are the students whose peers and instructors believe they have that certain something that will help them make a name for themselves in the industry. On November 16, the first class to ever receive the ICE Student Awards was Chef Michelle Tampakis’ morning Pastry & Baking Arts class.

For the first time, ICE President Rick Smilow awarded the custom designed medals to the award winners — Junita Bognanni for Top Toque, Hea Jin Sun for Most Likely to Succeed and Casey DiPillo for Leadership. It was incredible to see the students beam with pride in their endeavors and achievements, and we can’t wait to see where they will go from here. We’re excited for the next graduating class and good luck to all. We look forward to celebrating your accomplishments! Your time at ICE is just the beginning of what can be a very rewarding career.