CHARLOTTE N.C. Approximately $1.3 million in scholarships were awarded to the top culinary and management team in the sixth annual National ProStart Student Invitational held here recently at the Westin hotel.
The competition, which showcased the talents of ProStart students from 34 states, territories and districts, was sponsored by the National Restaurant Educational Foundation and the Coca-Cola Co. ProStart is a school-to-career curriculum developed by the NRAEF.
The non-profit organization and Coca-Cola distributed $110,000 in scholarships to the winning teams. In addition winning students also were offered scholarships from several colleges and culinary institutes.
The students from Battle Mountain High School in Colorado prepared a winning menu of wild mushroom, fennel and pancetta salad, sautéed Colorado striped bass and a rustic buttermilk pancake with caramelized apple for desert. And the students from Bend High School in Oregon took first prize in the management competition where students demonstrated their knowledge of the industry by competing in a case study.
Other winners in the culinary competition were: Newport Harbor High School of California earned second place; and Lorain County JVS of Ohio came in third place. Fourth place honors were awarded to Fruitport High School of Michigan and Howard County Research and Applications Laboratory of Maryland took home fifth place.
In the management competition, second place went to Moapa Valley High School of Nevada. The team from Eastside High School in Florida won third place. Fourth and fifth places were awarded to the Southern Adirondack Education Center of New York and La Quinta High School in California, respectively.