Earn Your College Degree — and a Few Competition Medals!
Some CINY students earn more than a degree at Monroe. They earn competition medals and the bragging rights that go along with them, too!
Our “Team CINY” competition team provides top culinary and baking/pastry students the chance to put their skills and creativity to the test in one-on-one and team competitions against other programs from around the state, region, the USA and the globe.. Team CINY students routinely win medals and honors at these events, including “best in show.”
To date, we’ve won more than 1200 competition medals!
Each year, more than 60 competitors earn a spot on the Team CINY roster, with five talented individuals being selected as the Core Five. These five students compete in the ACF Student Team National Championship Tournament every year. The ACF – the American Culinary Federation — is like the NCAA of collegiate culinary competitions. Teams from all over the country compete at the regional levels to earn a spot at nationals and, with it, the ultimate prize — the chance to be named national champions.
Team CINY has won state championships in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and regional championships in 2016, 2018 and 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023. Team CINY were back to back national champions in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, a student won Student Chef of the Year at nationals in Phoenix, AZ. In 2025, Team CINY boasted three Northeast regional champions: Chef of the Year, Student Chef of the Year, and Student Pastry Chef of the Year. Additionally, a student won The Young Global Chefs competition in Las Vegas, NV, beating students from Canada and South America, earning a shot at the International Championship in Wales in May 2026. Team CINY is an international competition powerhouse, competing in the World Junior Chefs championship in Thailand, The World Junior Pastry Championship in Rimini, Italy, and The Young Chef Olympiade in India.
Team CINY is led by Dean Frank Costantino CEC CEPC CCE CCA AAC HOGT as coach and Chef Yudel Torres CEC CEPC, a CINY faculty member, as the team’s assistant coach. Chef Torres is also a member of the American Culinary Federation Culinary Olympic Team 2028. Dean Costantino has a coaching career that exudes student accomplishment, coaching students to nearly 2,000 competition medals in his 25-year career. The Dean has personally won more than 60 ACF medals, and earned national and international championships as a competitor himself. Dean Costantino was named the Team Manager and Coach of the American Culinary Federation Culinary Youth Olympic Team 2028 which includes three CINY students among the team of eight set to compete for the World Cup in Luxembourg in 2026 and the Culinary Olympics in Stutgart, Germany in 2028.
We hear from many alumni of Team CINY — more than 400 students over the last decade – that their time on the team helped them get ahead with their skills – and their careers – faster. Many have moved quickly through the ranks to sous chefs and chefs de cuisine less than two years after graduation!
WE ARE CHAMPIONS!
Our culinary competition team has won more than 1,200 ACF medals and was named the 2022, 2023 National Champions and the title Student Chef of the Year in 2024. Six Regional Championships since 2016 and numerous regional student chefs and pastry chefs of the year.Try-outs start your first year on campus.
Contact
Frank Costantino, EdD, CEC, CCE, CCA, AAC
Dean, School of Hospitality Management and CINY
fcostantino@monroeu.edu
Marquis Hughes
Admissions Advisor, Entertainment Media
and Culinary
mhughes@monroeu.edu
914.740.6592