Oklahoma City Convention Center Executive Chef Joshua Moore led a student team from Edmond North High School awards for their skills as the future of culinary arts and restaurant management, with recent wins at the Oklahoma Restaurant Association ProStart Student Invitational competition.
The students won competitions in design and plating.
“This was my first year ever mentoring or participating in the competition. All the students were new to the competition.” Moore said. “None of the students are even in the same class. They would meet in their free time to practice or skip lunch to meet with me to work on their skills and plating. I couldn’t be prouder of this group.”
Students from high schools and technology centers who were awarded scholarships from the Culinary Institute of America advanced to compete at the 2024 National ProStart Invitational, to be held April 26-28 in Baltimore. They will face off against winning teams from nearly all 50 states. The top five teams in each national competition category will then receive a combined $200,000 in scholarships to support their future careers.
ProStart is a nationwide high school career and technical education program from the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.
The program reaches nearly 165,000 students at almost 1,850 schools each year, providing them with tools to jumpstart their culinary careers while still in high school through a two-year Certified Training and Education Program. Over the last 24 years, more than 1 million high school students nationwide have received career-building training through ProStart’s curriculum, which merges hands-on restaurant and culinary experience with classroom instruction.
