Student Celebrations
West Seattle High culinary team wins at ProStart State competition; Roosevelt student named Student of the Year
The West Seattle High School culinary team won the "Best Entree Award" at the 2011 Boyd Coffee ProStart Invitational - beating 17 other teams across Washington. The team members are students are Kirby Davis, Latisha Evans, and Johnny Le. The students received a $500 Scholarship to The Art Institute of Seattle, a Certificate of Achievement and a chef's knife. Kate Ptasnik of Roosevelt High School was named ProStart Student of the Year.
The West Seattle team had one hour and two butane burners — using no electric or battery operated equipment — to complete two identical starter, entrée, and dessert combination meals. West Seattle’s menu included: Starter, Sea Scallops with cucumber and cherry tomato with a gastrique of rice wine vinegar; Entrée, Almond crusted Petrale Sole with baby bok choy, rice pilaf, and mango salsa; Dessert, Molten Chocolate Cake with Chinese-five-spice and ginger-chantilly cream. The team's winning recipe was the main entrée.
The students attribute their success to two chef mentors; Quinton Stewart, executive chef at Branzino in downtown Seattle, and Robin Leventhal of Stopsky’s Delicatessen on Mercer Island. The Pro Start class is offered at West Seattle High School and is taught by Sarah Orton and Danielle Henry.
ProStart is a restaurant school-to-career program to prepare high school juniors and seniors for careers in the foodservice industry.
Photo galleries of West Seattle and Roosevelt students at the competition