Fraser students attend ProStart culinary, hospitality competition

FRASER — Several Fraser High School students were cooking up success at the annual Michigan ProStart competition, which took place on March 5 in Port Huron.

ProStart is put on by the Michigan Hospitality Foundation, and it challenges students in cooking and hospitality programs to compete in several areas related to their studies, including culinary arts, cake decorating, knife skills, nutrition, tabletop presentation, management and a general quiz bowl.

“The whole purpose of it is to create a pipeline into the industry,” explained Michigan Hospitality Foundation director Amanda Smith. “We want them to get real experience in hospitality and the culinary arts. It’s something most people don’t think about, but hospitality is a huge industry and we want kids to know all of these different options. There’s a lot to get food from farm to plate.”

Chef James Kokenyesdi is an instructor in the Fraser culinary program and brought several of the students to this year’s ProStart for the first time.

“We entered all the categories but one. Most schools only enter a few,” he said. “We wanted to see what these competitions were about. We wanted to get our feet wet. This gives us something to build on. We’re building our team. Fraser hasn’t done ProStart in the past, but this was my first year with Fraser, so I want to take it in new directions.”

He added that it’s important for students to learn how to handle competition and pressure — particularly when it has to do with a field they wish to turn into a career.

“What a great way to work as a team, apply what they were learning to real-world situations and offer them a chance to be judged,” Kokenyesdi said. “I give them a lot of credit for being ready to take criticism. It’s not something you just want participation trophies for. They really learn to be competitive.”

Smith said that all the teams that competed availed themselves well this year, and that he was particularly impressed with the Fraser students since it was their first year.

“We were so lucky to have Fraser. It was their first year, but we hope to have them back for many years to come,” she said. “I thought this year’s event was great. We had 304 people in the competitions in seven different disciplines, each showing a different side of the industry. … They did everything from trivia to building meals under time constraints and with a certain type of menu.”

About 300 competitors from 25 schools or career tech centers took part.

“We had a lot of fun and learned a lot, and it was good to see what other schools were doing,” said Kokenyesdi. “The nutrition team took fourth. Jordyn (McDonald) took fourth in knife skills. Baker College had what was called ‘Ready, Set, Go,’ and we ran over to their culinary center, and four students were able to come up with a menu using a limited supply of ingredients, and one of our students took one of the rounds there.”

Kokenyesdi said they were able to attend this year, in large part, due to a grant the school received for the culinary program last year.

“We got a $5,000 Rachel Ray Grant last year,” he said. “We were able to use these funds to better our program. I want my curriculum to really allow the students to compete. We got new textbooks with the money. Going to ProStart was a way of seeing how much they learned. I want to incorporate everything ProStart offers so we can compete in the future and perhaps be a contender for the first-place winners which go on to Washington, D.C.”

The winners go on to a national competition where they pit their skills against those in the culinary field from across the United States.

“All 50 states have the ProStart program. The winner from almost every state will come to D.C. to compete for the national title,” said Smith. “This was our 21st competition in both the state and national competitions.”

She said that many people don’t realize how much hard work and study goes into the culinary and hospitality fields and that she hopes that ProStart helps the general public learn about the effort that makes it all possible.

“It’s an art form,” Smith said. “When you go out and have a true dining experience, there’s the food obviously, but there’s also the ambiance. It’s a rich area where kids can succeed in a variety of ways. It’s one of the last industries where you can go into it as something like a dishwasher and come out a manager with low barriers to success.”

Kokenyesdi believes that opportunities like ProStart are what his students need to prepare them for success later in life.

“Our students need to get out of their comfort zones and compete,” he said. “I think you need to see where you stand versus other schools and have the courage to go out every year, whether it’s in industry or in school, so you can learn and get a job. You don’t graduate from school and think I’m going to get a job because I read a book; you need real experiences like this.”