Maryland ProStart Student Invitational

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The 2008 Maryland ProStart Student Invitational will be held on March 5, 2008 at Martin's Crosswinds, 7400 Greenway Center Drive, Greenbelt, MD 20770. This exciting event will bring high schools from around the state together to compete for scholarships and state-wide recognition. The first place teams in the culinary and management competitions also earn the right to represent Maryland at the National ProStart Invitational in San Diego, CA in April 2008.

The Maryland ProStart Student Invitational is free to attend, and the public is encouraged to come and cheer on their favorite team.

Platinum Scholarship Sponsor - McCormick & Company, Inc.

Awards Dinner Sponsor -

Culinary Competition Sponsor - Whole Foods Market

Management Competition Sponsor - Anne Arundel Community College

Click here for details about $5,000 and up Sponsorship Opportunities.

Gold Sponsors - Riderwood
                           Vanns Spices
   Restaurant Association of Maryland

Silver Sponsors - Jordan's Steakhouse
Seibel's Family Restaurant
Culinary Classics

Bronze Sponsors - Crab Shanty

Media Partner -

You can support MPSI for as little as $25! Click here for a list of Sponsorship Opportunities $2,500 and less.

Click here for an agenda

Culinary Competition

The culinary competition gives each team ONE HOUR to create an appetizer, entrée and dessert. Teams may have up to four students each with one alternate. Judges will be scoring each team on proper food safety and sanitation procedures, proper cooking methods, food taste, teamwork and menu difficulty. Each team will work on their menu before the competition and submit it to the judges upon check-in the day of the event. Each team will be given two butane burners and two eight foot tables to work with. The team must bring all of their own ingredients, small wares and preparation equipment necessary to create their menu and they may only use the two butane burners as a heat source.

Teams must also price their menu to a 33% food cost and demonstrate their knowledge of menu development and pricing in the packet they submit to the judges. The judges will also be scoring each member of the team on their knife skills in a 15 minute session before they begin their menu preparation.

The judges for the culinary competition will be from leading culinary schools in Maryland and around the country and from the foodservice industry in Maryland. Each student on the top three teams will be awarded medals and scholarships to pursue their culinary education.

Click Here for Photos from the 2006 Culinary Competition

Management Competition

The management competition will consist of two parts for teams of up to four students each with an alternate. In the Case Study, teams will have 30 minutes to create a presentation to give to the judges based on a hospitality related problem they will be presented with at the start of their time. They will need to evaluate the situation and lay out for the judges the proper managerial decisions that would need to be made and implemented based on the problem. Team members will need to address the problems based on the roles of different management levels, such as General Manager, Assistant Manager, Food and Beverage Manager, Housekeeping Manager, etc.

The second portion of the management competition will consist of a quiz bowl of two teams competing against one another. Questions will be based from the ProStart curriculum which is a culinary and hospitality management curriculum for high schools used nationwide. Questions will range from food safety issues to managerial issues and terms. Each team will compete in the quiz bowl twice and their quiz bowl scores and case study will be scored to produce the top three teams.

Judges for the management competition will be from the schools with hospitality management programs and from the hospitality industry in Maryland. Each student on the top three teams will be awarded medals and scholarships to pursue their hospitality careers.

Click here for Official Competition Rules

2008 Participating Schools

Culinary Competition

Bowie High School, Prince George's County

Carver Center For the Arts, Baltimore County

Carroll County Career and Technology Center

Centennial High School, Howard County

Eastern Technical High School, Baltimore County

Fairmont Heights High School, Prince George's County

Forestville High School, Prince George's County

Gaithersburg High School, Montgomery County

Gwynn Park High School, Prince George's County

Howard County ARL, Howard County

Howard High School, Howard County

Kent County High School, Kent County

National Academy Foundation High School, Baltimore City

Oalkand Mills High School, Howard County

Quince Orchard High School, Montgomery County

Reservoir High School, Howard County

Sherwood High School, Montgomery County

Sollers Point Technical High, Baltimore County

South Hagerstown High School, Washington County

Springbrook High School, Montgomery County

Watkins Mill High School, Montgomery County

Management Competition

Bowie High School, Prince George's County

Carver Center For The Arts, Baltimore County

Fairmont Heights High School, Prince George's County

Forestville High School, Prince George's County

High Point High School, Prince George's County

Howard High School, Howard County

National Academy Foundation High School, Baltimore City

Oakland Mills High School, Howard County

Reservoir High School, Howard County

South Hagerstown High School, Washington County

SCHOOL	TOTAL SCHOLARSHIPS for MPSI
Stratford University	$45,000
Baltimore International College	$120,000
JNA Institute of Culinary Arts	$148,750
Johnson and Wales University	$22,500
Culinary Institute of America	$19,000
McCormick(applicable to any school)	$5000
Restaurant School at Walnut Hill	$45,000
Orlando Culinary Academy	$225,000
New England Culinary Institute	$105,000
Whole Foods Market (applicable to ANY school)	$5,000
The Art Institute of Washington	$7,500
University of Maryland Eastern Shore	$5,000
TOTAL SCHOLARSHIP POOL	$752,250

Sponsorship / Donation Information - Click Here

If you would like to help MHEF with the expenses associated with the Maryland ProStart Student Invitational and the expenses for the first place teams in the culinary and management competitions to attend the National ProStart Student Invitational, click on the link above. There are several opportunities to support MPSI from $25 to $15,000. Your support is greatly appreciated and allows MHEF to make this competition a reality for the ProStart students in Maryland.