Jill Rickabaugh Receives MAPCS Student Achievement Award
 

Roberta L. Dowling, CCP, presented Jill Rickabaugh with the MAPCS Student Achievement Award on May 15, 2006. Rickabaugh, who will graduate from the Professional Chef's Program in June 2006, was one of thirteen students honored at the 16th Annual Outstanding Student Award ceremony held by the Massachusetts Association of Private Career Schools (MAPCS).

(left to right, Roberta L. Dowling, CCP; MAPCS award recipient Jill Rickabaugh;
and Rep. Patricia Haddad, Chair of the Joint Committee on Education)

The CSCA chose Rickabaugh, who is legally blind, for the award because she was able to overcome her vision impairment to excel in both the kitchen and academic portions of the Professional Chef's Program.

The event was held in the Hall of Flags at the Massachusetts State House with Representative Patricia Haddad, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Education, serving as the guest speaker. Program hosts included Roberta L. Dowling, MAPCS Director and Director of the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and Barbara Lagergren, MAPCS President and Director of Gould Construction Institute.

Jill was born in Philadelphia; she moved to Massachusetts in 2001 to attend Boston University's Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. In 2005 she graduated with a B.S. degree. She then chose to follow her passion for food and enrolled in the Professional Chef's Program at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. At the same time, she also entered the muscular therapy program at the Muscular Therapy Institute to keep up with the health field. She has excelled in both of her endeavors despite being legally blind, color blind, and light sensitive.

Award recipients included Gene Lavoie from Bay State School of Technology; Michael Baez from Gibbs College; Kim Zbikowski from the Henri's School of Hair Design; Cinthia Rios from ITT Technical Institute; Kelley Medvecky from Lowell Academy Hairstyling Institute; Sandra Lopes from the Medical Professional Institute; Tia Boyle from the Merrimack Valley School of Hair Design; Meredith Amaru from the New England Hair Academy; James H. Markarian from RETS Technical Center; Ann Bucchino from the Salter School; Benjamin Scanlon from Universal Technical Institute; and Michael Stadnick from the WyoTech (formerly East Coast Aero Tech).

Roberta Dowling, CCP, has been a member of the MAPCS board of directors for the past five years. The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts has participated in the MAPCS organization for the past decade.

MAPCS is a nonprofit organization that promotes high educational standards in business, occupational, and vocational schools. MAPCS encourages ethical practices in schools, between schools, and with employers in the public.