Penn College

‘Excellent’ students selected to attend national restaurant show

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Two students in baking, pastry and culinary arts majors at Pennsylvania College of Technology were selected by faculty to receive the “Award of Excellence,” which included an educational trip to the National Restaurant Association’s 2014 NRA Show.

The May graduates -- Amy E. Lynn, who earned an associate degree in baking and pastry arts, and Lewis D. Robinson, who earned a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts and systems and an associate degree in baking and pastry arts -- were selected based on their academic records and their service to Penn College’s School of Business & Hospitality.

Lynn, of Bloomsburg, Pa., served the Penn College Admissions Office as a student ambassador and was a resident assistant in the college’s Dauphin Hall.

She was selected by Levy Restaurants to help cook for thousands of guests at the 2013 running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and appeared twice on WBRE, helping to provide Derby-themed cooking demonstrations in the weeks before the event. She showed her skill in baking and pastry arts by receiving Best of Show at the college’s 2014 Grand Pastry Buffet and receiving second place – with co-creator Samantha-Jo M. Bradley – for an ice sculpture at the college’s annual Food Show.

Lynn is a recipient of the Hector Boiardi Scholarship and was named to the Dean’s List during every semester of her Penn College career. In 2013, she was named an Awesome Woman Exemplar.

Robinson, of Bellefonte, who likewise made the Dean’s List every semester, was selected as a commencement speaker and received the Lewis H. Bardo Memorial Award at graduation. He served the college as a senator for the Student Government Association, as a student ambassador in the admissions office, and as a resident assistant in the Hospitality Living-Learning Community at Dauphin Hall.

He was selected to prepare food at the Kentucky Derby for four years and assisted with a Derby-themed cooking demonstration on WBRE’s “PA Live!”

Robinson medaled twice in the national level of SkillsUSA competitions. At Penn College Food Shows, he earned first place for a two-tiered cake and for a classically presented entrée, second place for a plated dessert, and third place – with co-creator Antonia Castaneda Bernal – for an ice sculpture.

In 2013, he interned at Eleven Madison Park in New York, which was recently listed at No. 4 in Restaurant magazine’s “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” for 2014.

The four-day NRA Show, held each May in Chicago, is attended by tens of thousands of people and features more than 1,800 exhibitors, as well as free education sessions and a World Culinary Showcase.

To learn more about baking, pastry and culinary arts majors at Penn College, call 570-327-4505 or visit www.pct.edu/culinary.

For more about the college, which is celebrating its Centennial throughout 2014, visit www.pct.edu, email admissions@pct.edu or call toll-free 800-367-9222.

Last Updated June 2, 2014

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