County College of Morris (CCM) will be celebrating the success of two special groups of students to recognize their accomplishments that included participating in the launch of the college’s new Food Truck Entrepreneur class.
A total of eight students will be recognized for completing the Culinary Opportunities Program (COP) for Adults with Development Disabilities. This is the third group of students graduating from the COP certificate program designed to prepare adults for work in a variety of food production environments.
Also to be recognized are four high school students who are completing their second year in the Culinary Arts Share Time (CAST) program. CAST is a new program the college started last year with the Morris County Vocational School District that provides students with the opportunity to earn both their high school diploma and college credits towards a degree in Restaurant and Culinary Management at CCM.
As part of the graduation ceremony, luncheon will be served from the college’s new “Culinary Café” food trailer that is also the home for the Food Truck Entrepreneur class, which will be offered again during the Summer Semester. The college purchased the food trailer earlier this year to provide students with the opportunity to take advantage of a growing culinary business opportunity while also adapting to COVID protocols in the hospitality industry.
The graduation ceremony will be held Thursday, May 20, when the Culinary Cafe will serve up Cuban sandwiches, grilled chicken Caesar salad and cotton candy for dessert to the students and their families, as certificates are presented and guests celebrate the graduates’ achievement.
The COP graduates consist of Joseph Ellis of Hackettstown, Daniel Goldman of Livingston, Kevin Lin of Whippany, Devon Para of Denville, Matthew Paton of Denville, Alexa Reiris of Rockaway, Danielle Stocknoff of Rockaway, and John Iocencio of Dover.
The CAST graduates are Samuel Moore of Denville, Lea Hutchinson-Lundy of Mount Olive, Dante Soriano of Morristown and Eduardo Penafiel of Dover.
To learn more about the COP program, visit www.ccm.edu/workforce/opportunity-programs/. To learn about the CAST shared time program, go to https://www.mcvts.org/domain/1346/.
To learn more about the CCM Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts degree and certificate programs, visit Department of Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts.
