Toms River East Graduate Wins $7,500 Culinary Scholarship With Family Pumpkin Bread Recipe

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Payton Sinou, a 2026 graduate of Toms River High School East, has earned a $7,500 scholarship through a culinary competition sponsored by Atlantic Cape Community College.

Sinou, who is currently attending Atlantic Cape Community College and majoring in Pastry Arts, won the competition with a recipe that carries a special connection to her family — her great-grandmother's pumpkin bread recipe.

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The winning recipe has been passed down through the family, making the accomplishment about much more than the competition itself. Sinou was able to take a treasured family recipe and use it as part of the next chapter of her culinary education.

Before attending Atlantic Cape, Sinou also graduated from the Ocean County Vocational School Culinary Arts program in 2026, where she received hands-on culinary training while attending Toms River High School East.

Her $7,500 scholarship recognizes the culinary skills she has developed and will help her continue pursuing her education and career in pastry arts.

For Sinou and her family, the award is particularly meaningful because the recipe that helped her earn the scholarship began generations earlier in her own family's kitchen.

From Toms River and Ocean County Vocational School to Atlantic Cape's Academy of Culinary Arts, Sinou is now carrying a family tradition forward as she begins her own career in the culinary world.