High school senior Owen Eubanks finished in second place in the America’s Best High School Pastry Chef Competition presented by the Culinary Institute of New York at Monroe College on March 9.

A dozen of the best high school chefs in the nation were invited to participate in the final round of the pastry competition, held at CINY’s award-winning Culinary Arts Center in New Rochelle. Eubanks and the other student competitors were asked to demonstrate their skills by creating an original signature dessert that they are able to prepare exactly as submitted in a 90-minute final round.  The upscale-style plated dessert had to include a main item, sauce, cookie or crisp item, chocolate and fruit.

Eubanks’ creation won second prize, which earned him the right to wear the title “America’s Best High School Pastry Chef,” a partial academic scholarship for the pastry arts program at CINY, and the opportunity to apply to CINY’s study abroad program for a semester in Italy.