Family, Career and Community Leaders of American chapter members competed at The Kansas ProStart Invitational from Feb. 28-March 1, at the Wichita Marriott hotel. The ProStart Invitational is a ​​high school competition that essentially focuses on culinary arts and restaurant management. 

“It brings together students from around the state of Kansas to compete for scholarships and state-wide recognition,” Chapter member Taelor Goff, junior, said.

Those who competed on the culinary team were seniors Connor Andresen, Jaydin Vargas and Collin Abitz, and junior Taelor Goff and team manager Madilyn Sanchez. The restaurant management team consisted of seniors Alyssa Camfield and Sammie Holbrook and junior Charlotte Chilton. 

“We had a 20-minute prep time,” Sanchez, FCCLA Vice President of Public Relations, said, “which was putting together the kitchen area and getting our ingredients washed and set out as we needed them to.”

The culinary team had an hour to create a three course meal. The appetizer was seared scallops with wilted spinach, the entrée dish was lamb chops served with parsley potato mash and brussel sprouts, and for dessert a lemon curd tartlet with fresh raspberries and raspberry coulis.

“To cook our meals we had to use two butane burner stoves and present it to the judges,” Andresen, FCCLA President, said. 

The restaurant management team were tasked to follow sets of lists and rules to create a restaurant concept and present it to the panel of judges.

“It took [Camfield, Holbrook and Chilton] about two weeks from start to finish to get it completed,” Chilton, Vice President said. “Our restaurant was called ‘New Roots,’ an italian inspired restaurant, and we wanted to showcase some italian dishes but in a new way that no one had ever seen before.”

Besides the competition the competitors got the opportunity to explore facilities of the local colleges in the area that have culinary tech programs by representatives who acted as judges. 

“[The local colleges] offered between $500-$1500 scholarships for [students] who competed in the competition,” Sanchez said. “Since we competed we got the $500 scholarship that is only applicable at Butler Tech.”

Even though both teams from MHS didn’t place in the top three they will get placement scores from the judges via email. 

“This competition was a way to see how our skills paired up [against] other culinary teams in Kansas,” Andresen said. “It helped us prepare for what we need to work on for the Cook Around the World Competition in April.”