This March 3-6, the 22nd Annual ProStart Culinary Team Competition took place at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando. 85 of the 224 recognized culinary programs in the state met the requirements to participate and sent teams of students to compete for scholarships, prizes, and bragging rights. The Magnet Academy of Culinary Arts at Wekiva High School sent 14 students and competed in each of the four categories: Waiter’s Relay, Edible Centerpiece, the Kaiser University Culinary Challenge and the Rosen College at UCF Management Competition. The competition was steep, but Wekiva Culinary broke a few records and is headed to nationals!
Greta Torres, Erick Hendrickson, Nicholas Eberle, Josephine Russo, and Travis Grider competed in the Kaiser University Culinary Challenge and took 4TH PLACE
Danny Ha, Ishia Vilus, Judah Myers, and Keyshia Acevedo-Ares competed in the Rosen College at UCF Management Competition and took 1ST PLACE.
What this means is that for the first time ever, an Orange County Public School will represent the state of Florida in National Competition. Danny, Ishia, Judah, and Keyshia will be flying to Washington, D.C. the first week of May to bring home the gold!
Yelena Jones, Salienca Noel, and Joanna Damian competed in the Waiter’s Relay Competition and Izabella Ramos competed in the Edible Centerpiece challenge. Although these students did not win, they represented Wekiva High School very well and we are SO proud of how hard they worked to prepare.
In 2022, Wekiva Culinary became the FIRST OCPS school to join ProStart’s Top 5 list and be awarded 2nd place in Overall School State Ranking. We are proud to announce that once again, Wekiva Culinary has won 2nd Place in Overall School State Ranking and will hold that title for a second consecutive year.
In addition, during the awards banquet, Chef Christopher Bates was revealed to be the Florida Restaurant Association’s Teacher of the Year for 2023. Chef will be flying to Dallas, TX this July to participate in the National Restaurant Association’s Educator of Excellence Banquet, potentially winning the James H. Maynard National Teacher of the Year award which includes a $10,000 cash prize.
Chef Bates’ Acceptance Speech
We are proud of ALL our student competitors and are cheering on our four headed to Nationals this Spring.