ProStart May NewsBites 2016

Eastside High School Takes Second Place at Nationals!

(Tallahassee, Fla.) – High school students from Gainesville and Tampa, who are enrolled in the Florida ProStart program, tested their mettle in a sophisticated, real-world culinary and business management competition focused on the restaurant and foodservice sector. Held April 29-May 1, 2016 in Dallas, Texas, the National ProStart Invitational challenged student teams from secondary schools across the nation to create a three-course meal, while corresponding teams presented business proposals for an original restaurant concept.

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association’s Educational Foundation is thrilled to announce Gainesville’s Eastside High School placed second in the nationwide competition. The school’s management team developed a business proposal for opening and operating a restaurant, and were asked to solve the types of daily challenges faced by restaurant managers. The team was evaluated by an expert panel of industry judges. Tampa’s A.P. Leto High School participated in the culinary portion of the competition, showcasing their creative abilities through the preparation of an appetizer, entrée and dessert in 60 minutes. They placed 7th in the Culinary Competition.

“We are so proud of our students who are incredibly talented, passionate about hospitality and worked tirelessly all year,” said Carol Dover, President and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. “They are Florida’s all-stars and certainly proved they can compete on the national stage. We are glad to support these students, the future of our industry.”

Participating teams were as follows:

Eastside High School’s Management Team (top picture)
Instructors: Billie DeNunzio and Pam Bedford
Students: Jayla Herring, Isaiah Smith, Erin Livingston, Kelsey Nimmons and Brandon McDonald

Leto High School’s Culinary Team (pictured at right)
Instructor: Debra Hladky
Students: Angel Nieves, Juraima Pena, Alexandrea Vargas, Elissia LaPorte and Fernando Hernandez

Here is a complete list of winners:

• 1^st place: Culinary: Polaris Career Center; Middleburg Heights, Ohio; Management: New Caney High School; New Caney, Texas
• 2^nd place: Culinary: Plymouth Canton Educational Park; Canton, Michigan; Management: Eastside High School; Gainesville, Florida
• 3^rd place: Culinary: Academy of Culinary Arts at Byron Nelson; Trophy Club, Texas; Management: Grandview High School; Aurora, Colorado
• 4^th place: Culinary: Olathe Public Schools; Olathe, Kansas; Management: Saginaw Career Complex; Saginaw, Michigan
• 5^th place: Culinary: South Salem High School; Salem, Oregon; Management: Sauk Rapids-Rice High School; Sauk Rapids, Minnesota

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ProStart Teacher Training–Waiting List Available

Information was sent to all confirmed TTI attendees on Thursday, April 28 by email. If you did not receive this communication, please contact us.

If you missed registration for the 20th Annual ProStart Teacher Training Institute (TTI) and would like to attend, click on the link below to be placed on the Waiting List. We will contact you as soon as there is an opening.

The 20th Annual ProStart Teacher Training Institute (TTI) will take place June 19-24, 2016. The week-long training provides Florida ProStart instructors with the knowledge necessary to teach the ProStart curriculum. Each day’s learning is built around topics covered in the ProStart curriculum.

LOCATION

All classes will be held at Johnson & Wales University (JWU) North Miami campus, 1701 NE 127th Street, North Miami, Florida, 33181.

PROGRAM COST

The FRLAEF will cover the cost of all Florida ProStart instructors who will be teaching the ProStart curriculum during the 2016-2017 school year. Attendees will be responsible for their travel and some meals.

REGISTRATION

CLICK HERE to to be placed on the WAITING LIST for TTI.

Registration closed on April 15, 2016.

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James Brock Scholarship Application Now Available

Students attending Daytona State College, Florida International University, Florida State University or University of Central Florida in the fall are eligible to apply for the James Brock Scholarship. This scholarship is available for your graduating seniors and for former students as well.

In order to be eligible for this scholarship the applicant must:

• Be enrolled at Daytona State College, Florida International University, Florida State University, or University of Central Florida
• Be entering or continuing in a culinary or hospitality post-secondary program — Fall 2016 term
• Return an OFFICIAL transcript to FRLAEF by application deadline

The scholarship amount fluctuates from year to year. The typical scholarship ranges from $1,000 to $2,500. This is a one-time, non-renewable award.

CLICK HERE for the application

Application deadline: Friday, July 22, 2016

Applicants notified award status by: Friday, September 23, 2016

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COA How-To & Best Practices

ProStart students are eligible to earn the National ProStart Certificate of Achievement (COA). This Certificate gives students access to national and statewide articulation agreements and scholarship opportunities.

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITES

PROSTART EXAMS

Student must take and pass the Level One and Level Two ProStart Exams.

(If you need help administering ProStart exams or ordering scantrons, click here.)

WORK EXPERIENCE

Student must work at least 400 hours in the foodservice industry. This school year (2015-2016), all 400 of the required work hours may be signed off by the instructors.  If the instructor signs off on any hours, the hours signed off on by the instructor must be earned outside of the regular class time (i.e. time not required for the student’s class grade). Practicing for competition or attending a workshop does not count toward the required work hours.

STUDENT MUST REGISTER ON PROSTART WEBSITE

Students must register at the ProStart website. Students need to use their legal name each time they take a ProStart exam. This enables NRAEF to locate their record easily. See article below if student is not seeing both their exams under their name.

Once a student has passed either the Level One or Level Two ProStart exam (Foundations), their COA process officially begins. The student may log in and enter Work Experience Hours (click on image to enlarge):

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students must submit a signed copy of the Work Experience Checklist to the teacher.

TEACHER RESPONSIBILITIES

Teachers must be registered as a ProStart Educator at the ProStart website. Instructions are in the link above if you have not completed this step. Please note the new section under Educator Services: MANAGE COA’s:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teachers can search for any student at the school to see the status of a student’s COA application:

COA applications are connected to the teacher who administered the student’s most recent exam.

Teachers must examine and confirm work experience documentation.

Teachers must examine and confirm the student’s Work Experience Checklist to make sure 52 out or 70 competencies were reached.

Teachers then send all documentation to Amy Parker–you may scan and email, fax or mail.

FRLAEF Responsibilities

The FRLAEF will be notified whenever an educator has approved a COA application. After reviewing and confirming the documentation, the FRLAEF may approve a student’s COA application. Once the application is approved a certificate will be awarded and mailed directly to the student using the address that student has in his/her profile. Students will receive a reminder to check the address in their profile before the COA is mailed.

CLICK HERE  for PowerPoint instructions.

CLICK HERE for instructions in pdf format.

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ProStart COA: Help With Merging Student Records

The COA (ProStart Certificate of Achievement) application system now has simplified record merging.  One of the biggest challenges with the new online COA Application system is when students are registered but login and don’t see their exam scores in their student profiles. The students may now load exam results on their own, in most cases without Service Center assistance. To add the exam records to their “Track COA Progress” page, students will need their Exam Session Number(s) Here’s how it works:
1. The student should log in to the NRAEF website and go to Track COA Progress (in the drop-down menu under “Students”).
2. From that page, if there is a missing exam score, the students should return to the Student tab and then select “Exams” from the dropdown menu.
3. The student should then select “Check My Scores”.
4. On the next page the student can enter the exam session number in that box and then click “Find My Record”. The page will reload and there will be a message confirming that the exam record has been tied to their profiles.

NOTE: If the student’s name in the exam record(s) and the profile created during registration does not match exactly, (i.e. if the student took the exam as Jim Smith and registered as Jimmy Smith), the Service Center will need to facilitate the merge.

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Hospitality Industry Internships

The Hospitality Industry Internship (HII) provides the opportunity for Florida ProStart instructors to work in a foodservice establishment for at least 40 hours. At the completion of 40 work hours, the HII recipient will receive a check for $600 from the FRLAEF. Several ProStart teachers completed an HII during the 2015-2016 school year. We will be sharing some of these teacher’s experiences over the next few months.

This month’s HII profile is Suzanne Sheffeild. Suzanne began teaching Home Economics in 1983 at a middle school in Citrus County. She has been teaching Culinary Arts at Lecanto High School in Citrus County since 1991.

Suzanne said, “I am an old fashioned Home Economics Teacher.  When the opportunity comes to increase my knowledge and experience in culinary, I jumped on it. Each new HII experience teaches me a skill to take back to the classroom.  It could be a cooking technique, recipe, and/or networking for me to pass on to my students.  I enjoy making friends with the industry leaders to get my students jobs.”

Suzanne conducted her HII at the Moose Lodge of Crystal River. “The most important skill I learned from the Kitchen Manager was how to properly clean the flat top fryer.  She heated it up and iced it with salt.  She cleaned it off and then put lemon juice on it and used the brick.  It looked brand new.  I have already taught that to my students”, said Suzanne.

Because of all her HII experiences she has become a more confident teacher in running her school restaurant.  “I have taught them serving, pan frying, the use of commercial equipment, proofing, baking, grilling, beverages (tea), tasting (very important), cleaning, catering, cashiering, counting back money to customers properly (industry leaders want and need this skill), and table setting”, said Suzanne.

She concludes by saying, “Over the years of participating in HII I have seen the need to purchase commercial equipment that is used by the industry.  My students have benefited from this the most.  I enjoy training my students and sharing what I have learned.”

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NRAEF Scholarships + Infographics

This year the NRAEF created a new application process designed to be more user-friendly and to help match applicants with the scholarship they are best qualified for. Once logged in, applicants can save their work and resume the application process at any time prior to the application deadline date.

Some scholarships have different deadlines. For example, the Supply Chain Management Scholarship had an application deadline in March of 2016. Please pay attention to deadline dates.

Every applicant will be notified of the status of their application approximately 6-8 weeks from the deadline date.

Click here for the scholarship page that contains a link to all applications.

INFOGRAPHICS

NRAEF has several useful infographics on their site right now that were developed after a major research study. Detailing the opinions of nearly 5,100 Americans who currently work or formerly worked in the industry, as well as those who own or operate restaurants, the study offers compelling insight into the sense of pride, optimism and opportunity among the restaurant workforce.

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WebstaurantStore Scholarship

WebstaurantStore, a leading online restaurant supply store, is offering an annual scholarship to all culinary arts and hospitality students. The winning applicant will receive $1,500 towards the cost of their education.

Attached is a flyer with a brief overview of the scholarship for your reference, but all of the application details and the 2016 essay question are available on our website at http://www.webstaurantstore.com/scholarship.

Application is due by June 15, 2016.

Contact Evan Mellott with any questions:

Evan Mellott | Community Outreach
e: emellott@webstaurantstore.com

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Summer 2016 Yellowstone National Park Employment Opportunities

For a number of years Yellowstone has had success hiring ProStart students. Yellowstone National Park Lodges is operated by Xanterra Parks and Resorts and provides services for more than three million visitors who come to Yellowstone National Park each year. They have a multitude of positions within the Food and Beverage industry. Click here for information about their Culinary Apprentice program and Culinary and Hospitality Internship Program.

Along with offering the best backyard in the United States they also offer the following;
Room and Board: Housing is dormitory style and includes utilities, internet, and free laundry. Food is all you can eat/ 3 meals per day. Cost is based on hours work but will not exceed $206.05 per pay check.
Pay: Base wage is $8.75 per hour for entry level positions
Bonus: Applicants receive a $3.00 per day bonus at the completion of their agreement.
New this year starting in mid-September all employees will receive a $2.00 per hour bonus until mid-October.
Apprenticeship: For students pursuing the culinary field we also offer an apprenticeship program.
Transfer Program: Applicants wishing to pursue a career and benefits with Xanterra can request to transfer to one of their other parks or stay on in Yellowstone for their winter season.
When hired, applicants will receive detailed information about their first day of employment, where they arrive and what to expect. They do not pay for travel to Yellowstone but they do pick employees up in Bozeman, Montana if they are traveling by bus or airplane.

The application is available on line at www.yellowstonejobs.com.

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ServSafe Materials

Each Premier and Full ProStart program is eligible for free ServSafe materials.  To ensure you get the materials you need, you must notify us of your needs.  Once we receive your ProStart Classification paperwork, you can order up to $350 of ServSafe materials. Click here for the ServSafe price list. Email Amy Parker to place your order–you do not need to fill out the form. Requests are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

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ProStart Scantrons

The FRLAEF will distribute over $43,000 worth of free ProStart Exam Scantrons to Premier and Full ProStart schools during the 2015-2016 school year. Once a school has turned in their ProStart Classification paperwork, email Amy Parker to let her know how many ProStart Exam Scantrons you need. Requests are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

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Chipotle’s Culinary Classroom Series

Chipotle is partnering with high school culinary programs to share some of the techniques they use at Chipotle everyday through a series of curated culinary videos.

The video series is part of their commitment to changing the way people think about and eat fast food—an effort that requires fresh ingredients, classical cooking techniques and exceptionally trained people, like the ones whose skills you’re sharpening every day.

For an interactive pdf that contains direct links to the videos, CLICK HERE. There are four culinary videos including Knife Skills, Mise en Place, Managing a Kitchen, and Tasting and Understanding Flavors.

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Level One ProStart Exam Correction

A Level Two ProStart question was included in the Level One ProStart (Foundations of Restaurant Management & Culinary Arts) exam. That question has been removed from the Level One exam and replaced. As a result, the Level One exam has been re-issued as a new Exam Form. The new form is currently available on the Educator site. If you have already downloaded the Level One exam, please delete it and get the new exam from the ProStart website.