ProStart: Roadmap to culinary excellence

by Carol Crump
Monday, November 16, 2009 5:08 PM MST

Not too many years in the future, the star chefs on the Food Network may not be Emeril Lagasse and Rachel Ray. The newest icons of the culinary world could just as easily be from Casper, Natrona County School District graduates who finished the first level of food service training in ProStart.

Thanks to a partnership with the 12-24 Club, more students than ever will be able to try their hand at a field that could lead to a lucrative career in a $26 billion industry.

“We’re not training dishwashers and onion slicers,” said Career and Technical Education Coordinator Jamie Cordonier.

ProStart was initially incorporated into the NCSD as a drop out recovery tool, said Director of Transition Services Shawna Trujillo. By its third year, the program has become so popular that it was ready to move from donated space in the North Casper Boys’ and Girls’ Club to a stand-alone facility.

The program that space limited to one 15-student-per-day session was poised to grow to have room for a waiting list of students, including some from Kelly Walsh and Natrona County high schools’ Family and Consumer Science programs.

The search for an affordable and suitable place took two years. It wouldn’t have happened without the generosity of the 12-24 Club’s Dan Cantine and Bill Schneider and the support of McMurry Construction for the program, Trujillo said.

“We want to support kids in a healthy lifestyle. This is a good, clean environment and kids need role models and mentoring,” she said.

ProStart Culinary Arts Program’s new home is 2,600 square feet of leased space on the first floor of the newly renovated former Coliseum Motors building on the corner of Fifth and Wolcott streets. The 12-24 Club, which owns the building and has run a successful community fund-raising campaign for renovations, agreed to lease the space to the school district for $3,000 a month.

The five-year lease, for approximately $1 per square foot, is a deal Cordonier said was “a gift” that was not available anywhere else in town.

The space on the northeast corner has windows all around, with room for the learning kitchens and a multi-use area for dining or community meetings that can be catered by ProStart’s students. The patio area that is a feature of the building’s remodel may be a place where the students could offer lunch. The program’s catering business already pays for the lab costs, primarily food, at the current site. Within the next two years, Cordonier anticipates that catering will pay the monthly rent.

Grand opening in February

The state-of-the-art space will have all the gadgets, including a tech wall and Internet access. The Natrona County Recreation Joint Powers board granted $238,000 to the program for state-of-the-art kitchen equipment.

Once the class schedule is customized to fit all of the high schools’ class schedules, the central location also will have room for bus drop off for the up to 40 students a day who will eventually come to ProStart for morning and afternoon class sessions. The new facility should be ready for a grand opening in February.

The ProStart Culinary Arts Program, which was developed by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, is a two-year career building program for high school students. The curriculum is three-tiered, so students move from the basics of “dice and slice” to community internships and apprencticeships with entrepreneurs in the industry.

Cordonier is working on a shared credit arrangement with Casper College that would use a college hospitality instructor in the school district’s space.

According to Trujillo, the school district is already getting calls with employment opportunities for ProStart students who earn ServSafe certification from the National Restaurant Association as part of their training. ProStart also offers scholarships for further study that can lead to ProStart national certification.

“It’s an extensive process that can start in the school district and finish at college with being highly employable,” Trujillo said.

Trujillo describes ProStart — and the Transitions companion Youth Build program n as “a test case for professional pathways” that the Path to 2025 committees recommended as part of 21st century learning.

“Pro Start has a place for lots of different kinds of kids,” she said. “This is the start of academy-style programs, working directly with community partners. It’s a chance to show just how valuable this is for kids.”

Cordonier is exploring similar high skill, work ready training for high demand fields like veterinarian technician, CNA, dental and pharmacy assistant and cosmetology, that could be completed before high school graduation.

“The opportunities to partner are already in place,” he said. “It’s a chance to see what’s out there. It’s just as important to see what you don’t want to do.”

More about ProStart

ProStart will be the first of three to four “community resource type” organizations that will occupy the first floor of the 12-24 Club’s building at Fifth and Wolcott Streets, according to the 12-24 Club’s project manager Dan Cantine. “We’re pleased about ProStart,” he said. “The community built the building and it will benefit the community.”

Fund-raising is ongoing to complete the 12-24 Club’s $3.1 million renovation project. For information, call Cantine at 259-5263.

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