Belgrade High School was victorious in the Montana ProStart Invitational held March 20 at Montana State University, securing the school’s spot in the national competition in May.
ProStart, a two-year culinary and business management program, prepares thousands of high school students nationwide for industry work through catering events, field trips and an annual competition. Gallatin College MSU has hosted five state invitationals in the program’s 27-year history.
It’s amazing to see the high school kids come in with the skill level and the attention to detail they have,” said Mike Dean, culinary arts program director for Gallatin College MSU. “I think it’s a phenomenal program for young culinarians wanting to start out.”
Nine teams from across Montana competed to prepare a three-course meal in less than 60 minutes, each using only a single butane burner in Hannon Hall’s dining room, Dean said. Belgrade High School’s menu drew inspiration from Indigenous ingredients, featuring dishes such as pan-seared bison tenderloin, applewood-smoked trout salad and a chocolate pumpkin seed torte.
Starting at 8 a.m., student managers paced the kitchen floor and called out times as their four teammates hustled to deliver each dish to judging panels, which comprised local chefs and Gallatin College MSU students and faculty. Judges examined each course for presentation, color, texture and taste.
Jordan Collins, Montana ProStart coordinator and a faculty member in MSU’s Department of Education, compared the energy of the culinary competition to a sporting event. Family members watched from the sidelines while students lifted each other’s spirits in moments of trial and error.
“You see our students struggle a bit and then have the opportunity to be resourceful, pivot and use critical thinking skills on their own,” Collinsshe said. “It’s a beautiful thing to watch.”
Five teams also participated in a business management competition, pitching hypothetical restaurants to judges. Students presented their posters in MSU’s Herrick Hall, discussing marketing plans, profit margins, target consumers and menus. Belgrade High School’s winning concept was a jazz club named Louis’ Lounge.
Powell County High School from Deer Lodge and Skyview High School from Billings won second and third place, respectively, in the state tournament.
For the third year in a row, the business management and culinary teams from Belgrade will head to ProStart’s national invitational May 2-4 in Baltimore, Maryland. The top five teams from each category will receive academic scholarships.
By the time ProStart students graduate from high school, they will have logged hundreds of service hours and earned certifications recognized by the Montana Restaurant Association Education Foundation. The program encourages students to invest in themselves and continue the path to college or to jobs above entry level, Collins said.
Several past competitors have enrolled in Gallatin College MSU’s culinary program after graduating high school, earning their associates degrees and becoming essential pieces of Montana’s growing hospitality and tourism industry, Dean said.
“It puts Gallatin College culinary arts in a position of leadership,” he said. “We are here to help the high schools and help the individual students develop their careers. We are taking an active role in bettering our program by creating those relationships with the students, drawing them here to get a more refined education from professional culinarians on our staff.”
MSU also hosted about 600 high school students in Montana Family, Career and Community Leaders of America competitions on Thursday and Friday. Top students across the family and consumer sciences disciplines will enter the National Leadership Conference held July 5-9 in Orlando, Florida. Competition results will be posted to the national FCCLA website.
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