Pro Start career education program a recipe for success

The elaborate setups of the TV show “Iron Chef” usually come to mind when you mention cooking contests. However, one of the real challenges of being a professional chef is being able to adapt to the conditions around you, while still putting together a final product that meets a certain standard. Many television chefs may balk at having to prepare a meal on a two burner propane hot plate, but that’s exactly what the students on Glendale High School’s Pro Start Culinary Team had to do last month for the state Pro Start competition.

The GHS team competed against 28 other teams and won second place, which included a $500 prize and a renewable scholarship at East Central College for each team member. This is just the second year of the Pro Start program at GHS.

SPS’ Family and Consumer Sciences department implemented the Pro Start culinary arts curriculum in the fall of 2008. This is one of the district’s innovative career education programs that bring together what students learn in the classroom with the application of that knowledge in the workplace. The program offers students a sequence of courses that can lead to certification from the Missouri and National Restaurant Associations and a leg up on culinary school or other post-secondary training. Students get another opportunity to put themselves to the test through internships with local businesses.

The benefits of Pro Start are not limited to the culinary arts. The program fosters students’ problem solving skills and critical thinking ability as they react to various challenges and circumstances as individuals and members of a team. These are the skills that transfer across classrooms and throughout every facet of life, the most essential ingredient for success in anything students pursue.

Currently, SPS has Pro Start teams at Central, Glendale and Hillcrest.