National ProStart Competition Results!
The National ProStart Student Invitational (NPSI) took place April 29-30, 2017 in Charleston, South Carolina. The competition 
results are below.
Florida was represented by Leto High School in Tampa (top picture right) who placed 9th in Culinary and Tarpon Springs High School (bottom picture right) who placed 15th in Management.
Thank you to both teams and their teachers for all the hard work they put in prior to and during the competition!
NPSI RESULTS
1st Place Culinary: Ohio
1st Place Management: Michigan
2nd Place Culinary: Guam
2nd Place Management: South Carolina
3rd Place Culinary: Texas
3rd Place Management: Maryland
4th Place Culinary: Kansas
4th Place Management: Missouri
5th Place Culinary: South Carolina
5th Place Management: Connecticut
2017 NPSI VIDEO
Teacher Training Registration Confirmation
Over 100 Florida ProStart teachers have registered to attend the 21st annual Florida ProStart Teacher Training Institute (TTI). TTI takes place at Johnson & Wales University June 18-23, 2017.
Confirmation emails were sent to all registered attendees. The FRLAEF will send more information including agendas, dress code, etc. as the event gets closer.
If you registered for the event and can no longer attend or you are not teaching the ProStart Foundations curriculum next school year, please let us know by May 19, 2017. If you fail to notify us before the May 19th deadline, you may not be able to attend the 2018 event.
ProStart Student Wins Fresh From Florida Cook Off
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.–The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced that Gianna Rivera (pictured right) 
of Bloomingdale High School in Hillsborough County is the 2017 “Fresh From Florida” Student Chef Cook-Off champion. Rivera competed against four other regional finalists from across the state. Rivera’s winning Citrus Chicken Taco with Watermelon Salsa will be served in a school cafeteria, and the recipes of all five finalists will be converted into school meal service portions and accessible to sponsors throughout the state.
“A healthy diet is the foundation of academic success, and this competition is a fun way for students to learn how to incorporate wholesome ingredients into their daily lives,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam.
Rivera and the other finalists prepared original dishes featuring at least one Florida-grown fruit or vegetable for a panel of judges.
MORE PROSTART WINNERS ProStart student Sheldon Riley of Fort Pierce Westwood High School in St. Lucie County placed second with his Southwestern Chicken and Orzo Salad. ProStart student Wesley Hill of Eastside High School in Alachua County placed third with his Sautéed Chicken Salad with Citrus Bell Pepper Salsa.
The “Fresh From Florida” Student Chef Cook-Off entry requirements included:
- Applicants had to be a Florida student in 9th through 12th grade.
- The recipe had to be original and submitted with a photo.
- The recipe had to contain at least one fresh fruit or fresh vegetable grown in Florida.
- The recipe had to have clear directions and be prepared in 75 minutes or less.
- The recipe had to promote healthy eating habits and meet National School Lunch Program guidelines.
For more information on the “Fresh From Florida” Student Chef Cook-Off, visit FreshFromFlorida.com/StudentCookOff.
COMING SOON: New ProStart Edition
The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) is working on a new edition of Foundations of Restaurant Management & Culinary Arts. They expect the new edition to be available for purchase this summer. We will send out product details and pricing as soon as we receive them.
ServSafe Pass Rate Problems?
Several schools have contacted us recently expressing concern and frustration with their ServSafe pass rate. We have put some information together to help you become more familiar with how ServSafe testing works.
FOOD CODE ServSafe exam questions come from the FDA Food Code. As you will see at the link, the Food Code is a 768-page legal-type document. If your students comment about a question on the ServSafe exam they had never seen before, it is because ServSafe used the Food Code to develop the ServSafe exam question bank. According to servsafe.com, the material included in the ServSafe Manager books “covers the most critical principals of food safety”.
BEST PRACTICE: Don’t limit your teaching to the ServSafe Manager book. We have a Best Practice page that includes free videos, practice exams, foodsafety activities and exercises, and much more.
NEW EDITION Available May 8th, the new book will reflect the most recent Job Task Analysis (JTA). Every 5 years, food safety experts help complete a new JTA which identifies the key requirements of a food protection manager. The updated ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification Exam, based on the new JTA, will not be released until August. To assist you in the transition of teaching the 6th (6R) edition content and the updated 7th edition content, they created a bridge document that will be available on ServSafe.com on May 8th.
APPEAL A QUESTION! Due to the continuing feedback from examinees regarding the ServSafe exam questions, ServSafe has provided us with the following mechanism to report this back to them.
CLICK HERE for the ServSafe Appeal Form. Be sure to always have these with you at your exams. Any time a student reports a bad question to you, have the examinee complete the form and then submit to ServSafe.
BOLO–HII APPLICATION COMING IN JULY!
ProStart teachers have expressed interest in beginning their Hospitality Industry Internship (HII) in the summer. Due to our 
grant cycle, we are unable to begin the application process until July. So Be On the Lookout (BOLO) for the application link some time in July.
There will be no application deadline–we will take applicants on a first-come, first-served basis. We will give HII awardees until March 2018 to finish their Internship.
HII GUIDELINES
To qualify for an HII, the instructor must teach the ProStart/HTMP curriculum during the 2017-2018 school year. If you are already employed at a restaurant or hotel, you MAY NOT use that site for your internship. The restaurant/hotel must also be a new work experience for you, not somewhere you have worked before or used as an HII internship location.
The 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 participant will complete a Work Activities Report and Restaurant/Hotel Confirmation Form. Once the required paperwork has been processed, the participant will receive a personal check for $600 from the FRLAEF. Work experience may begin once the applicant receives an award letter from the FRLAEF.
The application link will come by email. If you are unable to receive your school email during the summer and are interested in this opportunity, please send Amy Parker your personal email address.
ProStart Exam Changes
The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) has made a number of changes to the ProStart exam administration process.
Both the Level 1 and Level 2 exams are now available in Spanish. For online exams, an educator giving the exam in both English and Spanish will need to schedule 2 exams—one in each language.
Online exams now have to be closed out individually by the proctor. This will eliminate students accidentally closing their exam before they are finished. If the proctor doesn’t have time to close out each exam during the class, they will time out 24 hours from the launch. That means that students could return later in the day and finish their exams, if necessary.
Online exams have been re-designed to be easier to navigate, with clearer language and layout.
There are new roles for all educators. To avoid confusion on exam day, educators should visit the website now to ensure they have access with the right role.
The new roles are:
- ProStart Educator and Proctor: An educator from a confirmed ProStart program who teaches the class and administers exams.
- ProStart Educator: An educator from a confirmed ProStart program who teaches the class but will not administer the exams, due to school policy or preference.
- ProStart Proctor: The individual designated by the school to administer exams for the Educator in #2, above. Proctors do not teach the class but do administer exams.
- Current ProStart educators from confirmed programs will become “ProStart Educator and Proctor” automatically; the educator doesn’t need to do anything.
- Those who wish to change their role to that of an Educator (only) should login and revise their profile. It’s important in this case for them to ensure that a proctor also registers.
- NOTE that only Confirmed ProStart Programs have access to ProStart registration status. Educators from an inactive program will become Foundations Proctors and will not have access to the ProStart portions of the website.
- The Service Center is gearing up for Exam Season…but BOTTOM LINE: teachers should not wait for exam day to ensure they are registered, their students are registered and they are familiar with the exam administration system!
ProStart Marketing Piece Available
The FRLAEF has developed a marketing piece for ProStart that is designed to explain ProStart to parents and potential classroom mentors or sponsors.
These pieces are perfect for an Open House for your program or showcasing your program in the community. If you are interested, please let us know and we can send them to you. If possible, please give us two weeks lead time.
The piece is pictured at right. Clicking on the image opens it full size.
FRLAEF Scholarship Award Winners
Please remind your FRLAEF and HTMP Competition Scholarship winners they have until June 16, 2017 to send us the required information to redeem their scholarship.
SCHOLARSHIP REDEMPTION Student must be pursuing a degree in culinary arts or hospitality. This scholarship is contingent upon the FRLAEF receiving verification you are enrolled in a post-secondary institution. This is confirmed when you email us your Student ID Number and the Financial Aid mailing address of your school. Once we receive the verification, we will mail your scholarship check to your school and they will deposit it into your account.
Interesting Links In the Food + Culinary World
- Food Costs Fell in 2016 but Labor Costs Rose
- Mistakes Candy Companies Have Made
- The Prettiest Cake!
- 5 Famous Chefs Share the Dish That Haunts Their Dreams
- A Short History of Banana Bread
ProStart Video & Curriculum Resources
CLICK HERE to see almost 40 ProStart Videos. The videos range from making Mother Sauces to how to fabricate a sheep!
CLICK HERE for a dropbox full of ProStart curriculum resources from a former ProStart teacher in North Carolina.
Foodsafety Materials
Each Premier and Full ProStart program is eligible for free Foodsafety materials. To ensure you get the materials you need, you must notify us. Once we receive your ProStart Classification paperwork, you can order up to $350 of Foodsafety 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.
In case you missed it, CLICK HERE to see how FRLAEF has restructured Foodsafety Training material awards.