Judy Ann Santos graduates from culinary school with double gold honors
MANILA, Philippines — It took a long time coming, and yet it was only a matter of time.
Actress and celebrity endorser Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo, who has always been known to be a good cook, finally graduated from culinary school. She formally marched with Batch 43 of the Center for Asian Culinary Studies (CACS) on January 13, 2025, and received Double Gold honors.
Double Gold means a Gold Medal in Culinary Arts and another Gold Medal for Pastry Arts.
“She finished her courses with a way above average performance, more than what was expected of her,” said Chef Gino Gonzalez, who handled most of her classes.
Chef Gino handled almost half of Judy Ann’s classes during her entire student life, with Chef Gene Gonzalez, founder of CACS, and Chef Junjun de Guzman, head of Baking and Pastry Arts, handling the rest.
Judy Ann actually took the long road to a culinary degree. She took a ladderized program, starting with a Certificate course in Cooking and Baking Skills some 15 years ago. Very busy with her showbiz commitments at that time, she made arrangements for a special Skills course whose schedule was made flexible, as it worked around her work schedule. She had her brother Jeffrey and some friends join her in her Skills course, and their classes would range from two to three times a week, which was kind of erratic but they managed to finish it.
Years later, she would fit in to the regular class schedule of her Advance Cooking and Baking Skills course and, afterwards, her Professional Asian Program. She also later on attended certain classes of the Professional Culinary Arts Program and did On-the-Job Training (OJT) to meet the course requirements.
For these, Judy Ann really dedicated time and effort, attending classes ranging from two to three times a week. There were times when she would sit in with a class just to refresh her knowledge on the subject being tackled during the session.
The three courses she took — Certificate, Advance, and Professional Asian — involved finals at the end of each course, which she passed with flying colors. Throughout her culinary journey, Judy Ann showed openness and willingness to learn, attention to detail, dedication and diligence as a student, despite her stature not just as a celebrity but also as someone who has accomplished a lot in the field of cooking. She has published a cookbook, endorses a food product, and now owns and runs a restaurant called Angrydobo.
And for that, Chef Judy Ann deserves her Double Gold finish. It is official. She is now a chef. Congratulations!
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