Baking & Culinary Articles

Among the huge assembly of people required to welcome 20 teams and around 300,000 fans to the Little League Baseball World Series in South Williamsport are Pennsylvania College of Technology students and staff. Baking and culinary students and staff from the college’s Le Jeune Chef Restaurant are set to prepare meals for the competing teams, while paramedic students will help provide for the emergency medical needs of the thousands of spectators who attend each of the nationally televised series’ 38 games.

While horses sprinted across the finish line at Churchill Downs, baking, culinary and business students – accompanied by faculty chefs Amanda L. Farr-Lepper and Charles Niedermyer and several members of Le Jeune Chef’s staff – were running a culinary marathon.

Chef Roberto Caporuscio made a return visit to the college’s Global Cuisines & Connections class to demonstrate the 300-year-old art of Neapolitan pizza and to encourage students to take part in a Spring 2026 Global Experience course that takes students on a hands-on culinary tour of Italy.

Chef Charles R. Niedermyer, instructor of baking and pastry arts/culinary arts at Pennsylvania College of Technology, was recently a workshop presenter during Salon du Chocolat NYC, held in New York City’s Javits Center. Established in 1994 in Paris, Salon du Chocolat is the largest international trade show dedicated to the chocolate and cocoa industry. With exhibitors from 16 countries, it attracts more than 6,000 attendees.

WNEP-TV’s Mackenzie Aucker visited campus to report on Penn College baking & culinary students who will head to Churchill Downs on Monday, April 28, to complete Derby Week internships. Their workweek will culminate with the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby.

“Have you ever eaten on camera? It's a little uncomfortable," quips Brian Walton, assistant dean of business and hospitality. "I’ve got to imagine this isn’t flattering, but it is delicious.” Walton, a Penn College alumnus and campus favorite, steps up to the plate for "Wild Ones Episode 3."

About 30 Pennsylvania College of Technology students will be part of the culinary brigade serving guests at Churchill Downs during the 151st running of the famed Kentucky Derby on May 3. The students were interviewed and hired by staff of Levy Restaurants, which provides dining operations at Churchill Downs, for internships at the facility during Derby Week, the event-filled lead-up to the Kentucky Derby.

Thanks to a Northeast Beef & Veal in the Culinary Classroom grant, students in Chef Frank M. Suchwala’s Artisan Butchery & Charcuterie Applications class learned how to break down primal cuts of beef and veal, then researched and showcased recipes using the cuts.

Penn College’s baking & culinary program – under the lead of Chef Frank M. Suchwala, associate professor of hospitality management/culinary arts – prepared two of the five soups featured in the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank’s Ladles of Love fundraiser. Students in this semester’s Foundations of Professional Cooking class spent much of their Wednesday session making the soups: 10 gallons each of smoked tomato basil soup and wild mushroom bisque.

Taking off on the concept of a popular YouTube talk show, Pennsylvania College of Technology is launching “Wild Ones,” a series of video interviews with members of the campus community. The fun concept: The interviewees try to keep their composure while eating progressively hotter sauce-drenched chicken wings. (Or, in some cases, vegan wings.) The series launches on Penn College’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/penncollege) on Jan. 22 – national hot sauce day.