Bonney Lake, Rogers take home honors in ProStart Invitational

Aspiring young chefs and restaurant managers showcased their skills at the ProStart Invitational, a high-stakes culinary and management competition for high school students.

This event brought together Washington state’s top ProStart students to test their abilities in a fast-paced, real-world setting on March 1 at Renton Technical College. Competitors impressed a panel of industry professionals with their creativity, teamwork and technical expertise while they crafted gourmet dishes under pressure or developed innovative restaurant concepts.

ProStart is a hands-on, real-world, career-connected learning program, and students are mentored by industry leaders. Students not only receive career and technical education credits, but their industry mentors open doors for them when they are ready to enter the workforce.

“The ProStart Invitational is always such a great event because it highlights the talent, dedication, and potential of the next generation in hospitality,” said Sonja Halverson, director of the Washington Hospitality Association Education Foundation. Watching these students step up, work as a team, and perform under pressure is truly inspiring.”

The winner of the culinary competition this year was Bonney Lake High School. They created a menu, Coastal Comfort, that included miso-glazed sablefish, beef short ribs and orange cheesecake. Last year, Bonney Lake High School’s management team won their category and went on to the national competition. This year’s team included:

Wyatt Miller
Killian Gitchel
Brendan Anderson
Clinton Revelee
Bria Washburn

The team’s educator is Kahale Ahina and their mentor is Jennifer Ahina from U.S. Foods. The team took inspiration from an aquaculture farm in Manchester Bay to create its appetizer. They harvested their own sablefish from the farm and it became the foundation of the menu.

In the management category, the students from Rogers High School in Spokane, Wash., took home first place. Their concept, “Entrées & Encores,” is a restaurant with a theater that features the latest in Broadway shows, improv and comedy shows as well as community theater. The building, historic and remodeled, is located on Main Street in the fictional town of ProStartville. Many believe that it’s haunted by longtime former employees.

The team includes:

Osvaldo Mojica
Larissa Truax
Hailey Vice

Their educator is Valkyrie Anderson who was once a ProStart student who graduated with a culinary arts degree and fulfilled a longtime goal of coming back to teach ProStart. She received the Educator of the Year award this year. Garth Hicks served as mentor to the students. Hicks owns Wild Sage Bistro in Spokane.

Hicks brought the team to his restaurant and introduced them to his head chef.

“They got to try some amazing food and learned about different service styles,” Anderson said. “It was a lot of fun to see them get the experience of eating in a fine-dining restaurant and have some team bonding time.”

When asked, students on both teams said that if they could meet any celebrity chef it would be Gordon Ramsay.

Both teams earned a spot in the National ProStart Invitational from May 2-4 in Baltimore, where they will compete against teams from across the country.

“This isn’t just a competition—it’s a launching pad for their careers, building confidence and connections that will take them far, Halverson said. “I’m so proud of every competitor who gave it their all, and I can’t wait to see where they go from here!”

The other teams who competed were:

Culinary: