It’s become a familiar day over the years. First, a quick check-in with the front office at Belgrade High School before heading through the cafeteria and large common area and down the hall to the ProStart classes. Before entering the Culinary Two classroom, where I meet with students and instructors regularly as a local chef who volunteers in the classroom, I am treated to a glimpse through the hallway windows of both classes. Some days they are listening intently to their instructor; on other days I see them with backs turned, all working diligently at the row of top-quality commercial stove tops in their kitchen classroom.
ProStart is a national training program through which culinary instructors can receive their own instruction and get excited to bring education back to their respective schools. They get an organized, thorough curriculum from the national offices in Washington, D.C., along with access to chefs from around the country via Zoom. And as a national program, ProStart is one of comradery, friendship, learning, and unselfish support.
As adults, we have opportunities to inspire the next generation. ProStart allows me as a hospitality professional to do that. Having been a kid working after school in kitchens, I know I would have greatly benefited from a program like this all those years ago.
Kortney Douma, the instructor at Belgrade High, says that in addition to the national network, she’s experienced so much support in and around the Gallatin Valley community—and all she has to do is ask.
Most chefs embrace the program because, as one chef says, it’s a joy watching kids fall in love with the restaurant industry. Hospitality is only going to get better with the injection of passion that only young people can bring.
Throughout the school year, students learn sanitation and proper food handling and eventually become ServSafe certified. They learn basic food science and culinary skills as well as foundations in restaurant management. As their confidence and skill set increases, they begin to work on more complicated techniques and recipes, all in preparation for one of the major focal points of the year: the state culinary and restaurant management competition hosted by the Gallatin College each March.
For the competition, students must create a starter, entrée, and dessert. They develop and write the recipes, budget out the costs, and execute all three dishes in one hour’s time with the use of only hand tools and two butane burners.
Just as various schools around the state show perennial dominance in football or basketball, Belgrade is a ProStart powerhouse, winning virtually every state championship in its 14-year existence.
In her classroom, Douma develops an immediate culture of family, learning, and proactive thinking. In addition, I try to help the students understand that they are learning valuable technical and social skills that will serve them well, whatever path they choose.
As adults, we have opportunities to inspire the next generation. ProStart allows me as a hospitality professional to do that. Having been a kid working after school in kitchens, I know I would have greatly benefited from a program like this all those years ago.
