'MasterChef Junior Live!' cast learns what's cooking on campus

The teenage stars of Thursday night's "MasterChef Junior Live!" appearance at the Community Arts Center spent the morning at Penn College – touring campus, interacting with students and enjoying a buffet lunch in Le Jeune Chef Restaurant. The lab visit offered a mutually respectful give-and-take, as the young chefs discussed their auditions and signature dishes, and appreciative Penn College students showed off the facilities in which they perfect their career-making craft. A number of those students have been granted VIP access to the 7 p.m. show, and four of them – Abby E. George, Harrisburg, applied management (and a 2021 baking and pastry arts grad); M.J. Harbron, Pottstown, baking and pastry arts; Jake T. Keller, Oreland, culinary applications; and Kylie R. Landon, Canton, culinary arts technology – will join the young chefs on stage during the CAC performance. Audriana L. Empet, director of admissions, will staff a table in the theater lobby to acquaint patrons with the college's tradition of shaping tomorrow makers.

– Photos by Larry D. Kauffman, digital publishing specialist/photographer

The engaging quartet of fan favorites A’Dan (far left) and Molly (far right), Season Eight winner Liya (second from left) and finalist Grayson are welcomed to Le Jeune Chef by Brian D. Walton, assistant dean of business and hospitality. Not pictured is Sue A. Kelley, dean of business, arts and sciences, who was also on hand to greet the guests.

Presidential Student Ambassador Sophia G. Wiest leads the group on a campus tour, followed (background, from left) by teacher Emily – the teens' educational resource throughout their five weeks on the road – and tour manager Marty. Wiest, of Butler, is completing her associate degree in landscape/plant production technology (to add to her May bachelor's in entrepreneurial innovation).

The celebrity chefs stopped for photos at several points along their campus walkabout, including the floral frame outside the Bush Campus Center ...

... the blooming "PCT" near the Field House (a literal hop, skip and jump to the west) ...

... and the landscaped pickup truck outside College Avenue Labs.

Wiest delivers the group to their next stop: a visit to the hospitality labs with Moira A. Smith, of Aaronsburg, who will graduate in December with an associate degree in baking & pastry arts.

... where the visitors also met Chef Charles R. Niedermyer II, alumnus and instructor of baking & pastry arts/culinary arts.

Smith demonstrates one of the ovens in a baking lab ...

Smith talks with the "MasterChef Junior" troupe during Niedermyer's Customer Service & Retail Baking Operations class. At right is McKenna J. Morgan, an applied management and baking & pastry arts student from Mar Lin.

Kade N. Chrostowski (foreground), of Moorestown, N.J., majoring in culinary arts technology and applied management, tells the lab guests about the previous day's assignment: a chicken dish with a prep-to-plate deadline of two hours and 15 minutes. He is among the students in the Foundations of Professional Cooking course taught by Chef Frank M. Suchwala (center background), associate professor of hospitality management/culinary arts.

Walton takes drink orders at an illustrious "table for four" ...

... before lunch is served!