Mayor Rahm Emanuel and The French Pastry School today announced the first-ever Mayor’s Cup Youth Pastry Competition, a mentoring and vocational opportunity that will engage high school students ages 14-19 from each of Chicago’s 50 wards. Beginning this spring, the city of Chicago will begin a unique partnership with the internationally renowned, French Pastry School of Kennedy-King College at City Colleges of Chicago (FPS).

Through this unprecedented youth competition, FPS will empower Chicago’s students to acquire real-world apprentice experiences and to hone the skills necessary for career opportunities in this fast-growing industry.

“Chicago students are excelling across every endeavor, and that includes the complex and competitive world of culinary arts,' said Mayor Emanuel. “The Mayor’s Cup supports our goal of providing students in every neighborhood with a shot at hands-on experiences that will give them a leg-up in college and careers, and the confidence they’ll need to succeed once they get there.”

Starting today, FPS is launching an open call for best cupcake recipe and a caption on “What Inspires You to Bake,” from youth throughout Chicago to express their passion for pastry-making, baking and confectionary arts. Twelve finalists, each representing a separate ward, will receive coaching from FPS master chefs, and a chance to participate in a live baking competition this May.

The winner of the inaugural cup will be also awarded a French Pastry School scholarship valued at $23,700, along with other prizes and educational opportunities. The remaining finalists will also receive various prizes and awards.

“At FPS, we support our field of work and this amazing city,” said FPS co-founder, Chef Sébastien Canonne, M.O.F. “We help students craft the world’s most perfect pastries, however the French Pastry School experience is much more than that. It is also about giving people hope and a sense of pride in their work, whether that’s a teenager or an adult seeking a second career.”

The Mayor’s Cup will provide youth representing all 50 wards the opportunity to engage in a competition to develop and showcase their baking and culinary skills. To be considered, high school students ages 14-19 residing in the City of Chicago must submit their best cupcake recipe and an essay in 100 words or less on “What Inspires You to Bake” at www.frenchpastryschool.com.

Twelve finalists will receive personal mentoring and coaching from FPS master chefs before they participate in May’s live competition, where one finalist will be awarded the Mayor’s Cup. In addition to the twelve finalists selected to advance to the final competition, one youth finalist from each of the remaining wards will receive a certificate recognizing them as their ward’s youth pastry essay winner for 2017.

“We love Chicago, and we want to do our part to help inspire young people across the city,” said FPS co-founder, Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer. “Through this competition, we hope to unite youth who have a passion for pastry-making and foster the development of young chefs who want to turn their dreams into a career.”

The French Pastry School pathway delivers students a world-class education and certification in pastry, baking and confectionary arts. The L’Art de la Patissere and L’Art du Gateau programs boast a 91 percent graduation rate, 750 local partners for real-world learning and an average of seven job opportunities per graduate. The prestigious program attracts students from all over the world, and is conveniently located in the heart of the Loop making it easy for students from all neighborhoods to travel to. FPS is housed within the Washburne Culinary & Hospitality Institute, based at Kennedy-King College, the City Colleges' center for excellence for culinary and hospitality education.

Increasing access to youth internships and employment opportunities for students to engage in learning both in and out of school time is a top priority for Mayor Emanuel. The new Mayor’s Cup competition increases opportunities for students around the city to engage in extracurricular and real-world learning that will keep them engaged and safe while they aren’t in school. Youth employment and mentoring programs have shown to both improve academic outcomes and reduce crime involvement for participants.

Since taking office, the Mayor Emanuel has steadily increased the number of available after school and summer programming opportunities like these to allow more students the critical opportunity to gain real-world professional experience, learn new skills, and build their resumes. Most notably, the City has invested year over year to grow the Mayor’s One Summer Chicago program, increasing out-of-school work and learning summer programs to serve more than 130,000 youth since 2011.

For more information, please see www.frenchpastryschool.com and/or contact us at mayorscup@frenchpastryschool.com.

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More on French Pastry School:

Founded in 1995, FPS has long been dedicated to supporting the City of Chicago, with local residents accounting for 30-40 percent of the school’s admissions. It strives to offer an innovative, intensive education in which students are equipped to achieve excellence in the pastry, baking and confectionary arts.

Co-founders, Jacquy Pfeiffer and Sebastien Canonne, M.O.F., are both recipients of the French Legion of Honour Award, which is the most prestigious award given to a member of the military or civilian by the French government (considered the equivalent of the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom). Both chefs were featured in the “Kings of Pastry” documentary filmed by Oscar winner D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus and shows in 55 countries. http://kingsofpastry.com/.