College of DuPage Culinary Team Wins Gold at State Competition

College of DuPage culinary students (from left) Tom Weiss (Downers Grove), Roxanne Strutynsky (Glen Ellyn), Alex Skrzypczyk (Downers Grove), Victoria Ascencio (Glen Ellyn) and Rachel Meifert (Naperville) earned a gold medal in the American Culinary Federation's Illinois State Competition and took second place overall.

All five students were competing for the first time. Michael Maddox, Assistant Professor of Culinary Arts at COD, said this was the first time that a team comprised of newcomers won a gold in Midwestern region state competition history.

"Winning gold requires a tremendous amount of precision and teamwork," said Maddox, who coached the team with Tim Meyers, Professor of Culinary Arts.

"For new students to demonstrate this level of ability in a relatively short period of time is pretty amazing. We are so proud of what they have accomplished and look forward to what our team will do next year."

For information about the Culinary Arts program, visit www.cod.edu/programs/culinary.