Harrisburg 41-2

Celebrating CTE Month with ProStart

The Harrisburg School District Season 1 Episode 7

Every February, the CTE community celebrates CTE Month® to raise awareness of the role that CTE has in readying learners for college and career success. CTE Month is also a time to recognize and celebrate the achievements and accomplishments of our CTE partners at the local, state and national level.

This month, we turn the reins over to Mrs. Breanne Lynch, CTE Coordinator for the District, who will interview our CTSO advisors and student leaders. Today's episode features HHS's ProStart Program. Joining us are:

  • Mrs. Deb Rombough | ProStart Advisor & Culinary Instructor
  • Alexis Rausch
  • Alexandria Ritesman
  • Leia Rombough 
     

Career & Technical Education at HHS

Transcript 

00:00:03 JoAnne 

We're giving you more than just the 411. This is the Harrisburg 412 podcast coming to you from Southern Sioux Falls and Harrisburg, SD. 

00:00:23 JoAnne 

Welcome back to our third in a series of episodes this month celebrating career and technical education in the Harrisburg School District. 

00:00:31 JoAnne 

Today's episode features our ProStart program. 

00:00:35 JoAnne 

Once again, this week, we'll turn it over to CDC, coordinator for the Harrisburg School District, Mrs. 

00:00:40 JoAnne 

Brianne Lynch. 

00:00:42 Breanne 

Welcome back to another Harrisburg High School CTS O podcast. 

00:00:46 Breanne 

We are really excited to have the ProStart crew joining us today. 

00:00:49 Breanne 

I'll have you go around and introduce yourselves to our audience. 

00:00:52 Alexis 

I'm Alexis Roush. 

00:00:54 Alexis 

I'm a high school senior and a member of Pro Star. 

00:00:57 Alexis 

I'm also a culinary 3 intern. 

00:01:00 Alexandra 

I am Alexandera Weitzman. 

00:01:01 Speaker 4 

I'm also a high school senior, also a member of ProStart and a Culinary 3 intern. 

00:01:05 Deb 

Deb Rombough I'm the ProStart advisor, HHS, Hospitality and tourism CTE teacher I teach culinary arts. 

00:01:13 Breanne 

Right, so the looming question in the room. 

00:01:16 Breanne 

Is what is ProStart? 

00:01:18 Alexis 

So ProStart is essentially the culinary and hospitality and tourism kind of industry. 

00:01:24 Alexis 

We kind of dig more into the culinary arts side, so like. 

00:01:29 Alexis 

The different foods, knife cuts and different kind of plating techniques that you see at restaurants. 

00:01:33 Alexis 

We also do a little bit of the baking and pastry side with like your cakes, your kind of pastries like cheesecake and what else have we done? 

00:01:44 Alexis 

Pastries and just kind of different little baked goods and kind of different of some of the different topics that are within the hub of culinary. 

00:01:53 Breanne 

Arts, so it's basically the fun part of hospitality and tourism, correct? 

00:01:58 Deb 

An extension of the culinary classroom. 

00:02:01 Speaker 4 

We also go into hospitality and management stuff where we go through we do different catering events for such things such as the Chamber. 

00:02:09 Speaker 4 

We've done different events, different schools, and we plan our own stuff. 

00:02:14 Speaker 4 

We learned about how to manage like restaurants and how to do ordering. 

00:02:19 Speaker 4 

And just like all the numbers, busy stuff. 

00:02:21 Breanne 

To all the bookwork too. 

00:02:23 Breanne 

Oh yeah so not just cooking and baking also all of finance, marketing, ordering that type of. 

00:02:27 Speaker 4 

Thing all of it's equally important. 

00:02:29 Breanne 

I just like the eating. 

00:02:31 Deb 

Me too. 

00:02:32 Breanne 

OK, as long as we're on the same page there. 

00:02:34 Breanne 

OK, so how would one get involved in ProStart? 

00:02:38 Breanne 

Do I need to take a class? 

00:02:39 Breanne 

Is it just a club? 

00:02:41 Breanne 

How do I become a member? 

00:02:42 Breanne 

Of ProStart. 

00:02:43 Deb 

So basically at Harrisburg High School you would take as a 10th through 12 learner. 

00:02:48 Deb 

You would get enrolled in the culinary arts class as a member of the class. 

00:02:54 Deb 

You are automatically a member of ProStart. 

00:02:56 Deb 

There's no extra fee or cost or anything associated with that. 

00:03:00 Deb 

With that just comes opportunities with the ProStart side. 

00:03:04 Deb 

So as Alex was saying, you could help. 

00:03:08 Deb 

We've done the FFA banquet before right where we've hosted that we go and do learner interest days at the elementary where we put on programs we've helped at the Chamber Christmas event. 

00:03:21 Deb 

We kind of just dip into a lot of different areas, but it's an extension of the classroom so you can be as involved as you want in the ProStart side. 

00:03:30 Deb 

But basically you're learning it all in the classroom and then now it's your your opportunity to basically show and tell. 

00:03:37 Breanne 

OK, so with that curriculum, are there tests or their certifications? 

00:03:41 Breanne 

Are there industry? 

00:03:43 Breanne 

Grade certifications that benefit me along the way? 

00:03:46 Breanne 

Or is it just a lot? 

00:03:46 Speaker 4 

Of busy work certification, I would highly recommend your ServSafe certification manager. 

00:03:51 Speaker 4 

Definitely recommend it, because then you can go out do these catering events and just you know your safety, your sanitation like they know you know your stuff we automatically do. 

00:04:00 Deb 

That the the coursework and culinary level one. 

00:04:04 Deb 

So your first year it's a year long class you you automatically do the work. 

00:04:08 Deb 

We can also offer you the opportunity to test for that five year certification right here at Harrisburg High School. 

00:04:15 Deb 

There's a small fee. 

00:04:16 Deb 

We also help pay for that and it's a great opportunity. 

00:04:21 Deb 

You have that certification for five years and you're ready to go in the industry. 

00:04:24 Breanne 

OK, so are you both certified? 

00:04:25 Speaker 4 

I am yes. 

00:04:27 Breanne 

What was the most challenging part of obtaining that certification? 

00:04:31 Speaker 4 

With the test you just gotta go with the flow. 

00:04:33 Speaker 4 

Remember, hey, I know this. 

00:04:36 Speaker 4 

You don't overthink it. 

00:04:37 Speaker 4 

Don't try to overanalyze it. 

00:04:39 Speaker 4 

Just go through your knowledge, feel confident about your test. 

00:04:42 Speaker 4 

Remember what you. 

00:04:43 Deb 

Know and I think I think students need to realize too, that it's a national certification. 

00:04:47 Deb 

It's not just something that everybody can get, it's actually 80 questions. 

00:04:51 Deb 

Long it's very detailed, and it's it's restaurant. 

00:04:56 Deb 

It's industry certified industry certification, so it's not easy, right? 

00:05:01 Deb 

It takes some dedication to do well on this test. 

00:05:04 Breanne 

And we know that all sure and we know that all CTE areas have high stakes testing right in the healthcare area. 

00:05:09 Breanne 

There's CNA testing there is AWS certifications for welders and in this area they're serve safe certifications for people in culinary arts. 

00:05:16 Breanne 

So it's good to practice that right in a classroom setting with the curriculum piece and then be able to take that exam here and earn that certification. 

00:05:23 Breanne 

So can you talk a little bit about your partnership with the like? 

00:05:26 Breanne 

The South Dakota Retailers Association and how those things work in conjunction with ProStart. 

00:05:30 Deb 

So in South Dakota, our arm of ProStart for lack of a better term. 

00:05:36 Deb 

Is on the South Dakota retailers. 

00:05:38 Deb 

It kind of depends on which state you're in and they are the person that they're our go to so they help us with grant funding for our programs. 

00:05:46 Deb 

They promote us, have to brag a little bit, but we were just recognized in the December January issue of the South Dakota Retailers magazine. 

00:05:53 Breanne 

We'll link that in the show notes awesome. 

00:05:56 Deb 

So that's pretty amazing, but they're basically our go to they help us with our. 

00:06:00 Deb 

They run our state competition. 

00:06:03 Deb 

Which is held in peer in March. 

00:06:06 Deb 

So anything that we need I also can get all of my ServSafe manager materials ordered through them as well. 

00:06:13 Speaker 4 

For the peer competition, the South Dakota Retails Association awards the different skills. 

00:06:18 Speaker 4 

I actually got the Knife Skills award from that association so they do offer awards. 

00:06:22 Speaker 4 

The certain skill sets during competition. 

00:06:24 Breanne 

So what did you have to do, Alex to earn that? 

00:06:26 Speaker 4 

Award so with the Knife Skills award. 

00:06:29 Speaker 4 

Basically I had to demonstrate a good understanding. 

00:06:31 Speaker 4 

Good grasp of like my knife skills. 

00:06:34 Speaker 4 

I demonstrate proficiency with using my knives. 

00:06:36 Breanne 

OK, hold on. 

00:06:37 Breanne 

For for the audience it may be listening. 

00:06:39 Breanne 

When you say knife skills. 

00:06:41 Breanne 

It's not like Ninja nunchuck skills. 

00:06:44 Breanne 

What are? 

00:06:44 Breanne 

Yeah, what are you doing with these knives in the culinary setting? 

00:06:48 Breanne 

What are what are you having to demonstrate? 

00:06:50 Speaker 4 

So usually we have to do our consistent cuts. 

00:06:53 Speaker 4 

We have to know different kinds of cuts like our Julianne cubes shifting on just all of our basic cuts. 

00:07:00 Speaker 4 

We have to know that we can perform them well consistently. 

00:07:02 Speaker 4 

You have to have a good hold on your knife. 

00:07:04 Speaker 4 

You have to know how to hold your knives. 

00:07:05 Speaker 4 

The different kinds of knives. 

00:07:06 Deb 

You just got to know what knife for what knife skills are really important in the culinary industry. 

00:07:11 Deb 

Number one for quality. 

00:07:12 Deb 

Control and for costing. 

00:07:15 Deb 

Right, it's a. 

00:07:17 Deb 

You have people coming through the door all the time, right? I'm only going to work a certain shift and then the next person's coming in so we don't want to lose money because I might dice my potatoes twice as large as you do, right? 

00:07:29 Deb 

So it it's a costing and an organization and an ordering standpoint, but it's also a plating and presentation aspect, right? 

00:07:37 Deb 

Because we want things. 

00:07:39 Deb 

To to look a certain way right and to be industry ready. 

00:07:42 Deb 

So it's not just. 

00:07:44 Deb 

It's not just one piece of it, but it's very important. 

00:07:47 Breanne 

All right, so I know you both have different areas of interest, right? 

00:07:50 Breanne 

We've got sort of a baking and pastry person, and we've got more of a cooking person. 

00:07:54 Breanne 

The chef side of of culinary arts. 

00:07:57 Breanne 

So can you both speak maybe a little bit to your interest areas and why you maybe have have been successful in those areas? 

00:08:04 Alexis 

And why you're drawn to them so? 

00:08:05 Alexis 

I'm interested in the baking and pastry side. 

00:08:08 Alexis 

I've just kind of always really liked and enjoyed baking. 

00:08:11 Alexis 

I've kind of. 

00:08:13 Alexis 

Tried and tested different recipes I really enjoy. 

00:08:15 Breanne 

OK, hold on, you haven't just liked baking. 

00:08:19 Breanne 

You're a two time South Dakota gingerbread house champion if I'm correct. 

00:08:25 Breanne 

OK, so so Lexi's being modest, but she is a culinary confectionery rock star in the state, so I interrupted. 

00:08:34 Breanne 

But I had to make sure our viewers and our listeners know that you are a culinary confectionery genius. 

00:08:42 Alexis 

I wouldn't say genius. 

00:08:44 Alexis 

I really I really enjoy like seeing things online that like really inspire me. 

00:08:50 Alexis 

And then I like trying to recreate them and I happen to be very. 

00:08:53 Alexis 

Good at that. 

00:08:54 Alexis 

Not everybody is even when it came to drawing or sketching. 

00:08:59 Alexis 

I could look at a photo online and then recreate it. 

00:09:03 Alexis 

I kind of do the same thing. 

00:09:04 Alexis 

With baking and pastry just kind of in my own way, I really enjoy doing cakes. 

00:09:08 Alexis 

I've done a lot of cakes, there's been a lot of trial and error because there's so many different ways that you can take it, and I think that's also why I like baking and pastry so much because there. 

00:09:19 Alexis 

Just so many different subcategories you can go into and so many different little things, you can try that are sweets related. 

00:09:27 Alexis 

So I don't know, it's just there's such a broad category and so many different things that you can try. 

00:09:33 Alexis 

I mean, I also really like sweets so. 

00:09:36 Alexis 

It's kind of hard to go. 

00:09:37 Breanne 

Wrong there, Alex. 

00:09:38 Breanne 

Why cooking? 

00:09:39 Breanne 

Why are you more interested in that area for cooking. 

00:09:42 Speaker 4 

I really love like the creativity and the freedom with baking. 

00:09:45 Speaker 4 

You've got to have  lot of attention to detail which Alexis is phenomenal at. 

00:09:50 Speaker 4 

But like with cooking, you got a little more freedom. 

00:09:52 Speaker 4 

You can experiment a little more. 

00:09:53 Speaker 4 

You can get into like the hey I want to substitute this instead of this you could add to it. You could take away. 

00:09:59 Breanne 

It's more like Hells kitchen situation. 

00:10:00 Deb 

Yeah, a little less science, a little less science. 

00:10:01 Breanne 

OK, yeah. 

00:10:03 Speaker 4 

A little more. 

00:10:04 Speaker 4 

Of the arts. 

00:10:04 Deb 

OK, I think what's been great for these girls with ProStart is that especially as like interns and culinary 2 students they come in, we can kind of block the time that works for them and they get to. 

00:10:17 Deb 

They get to create. 

00:10:18 Deb 

They get to experiment. 

00:10:20 Deb 

We are looking at adding some pretty cool technology with a cookie printer coming up in our department and that's going to be theirs to say, hey, let's let's see how this works. 

00:10:29 Deb 

Let's see what we can do with this. 

00:10:32 Deb 

The freedom is kind of there. 

00:10:34 Deb 

Sometimes we get things thrown at us. 

00:10:35 Deb 

Like OK, the Chamber wants desserts. 

00:10:38 Deb 

What do you guys want to make? 

00:10:39 Deb 

What will work? 

00:10:40 Deb 

Makes sense. 

00:10:40 Deb 

What can we do within the budget that we? 

00:10:42 Deb 

And it's an opportunity for them to just kind of have this palette that is theirs to design. 

00:10:48 Breanne 

Sure, so there's a lot of community impact and ways to sort of benefit. 

00:10:52 Breanne 

Serve the community in different aspects. 

00:10:54 Breanne 

I know we've been part of optimist giving and chamber events and other things and then with the roaster give back. 

00:10:59 Breanne 

We know that ProStart is a big part of the Roar Stores existence. 

00:11:02 Breanne 

So can you speak to maybe your roles inside of the CTE Roar Store and then maybe some of the community events you've been able to be a part of? 

00:11:09 Speaker 4 

So for the Roar Store I help with putting out products. 

00:11:14 Speaker 4 

I help with training baristas. 

00:11:15 Speaker 4 

I am a barista in the Roar Store. 

00:11:18 Speaker 4 

I help with teaching other people like what to do in the store. 

00:11:21 Speaker 4 

I help with the point-of-sale system. 

00:11:23 Speaker 4 

I kind of help float around and do an 11 needs to be done. 

00:11:28 Alexis 

I pretty much do everything else Alex does. 

00:11:30 Alexis 

I just sometimes pretend to do more because that's just me. 

00:11:35 Alexis 

I like diving into the deep end and finding. 

00:11:38 Alexis 

Figuring out if I. 

00:11:38 Breanne 

Can swim and your senior project. 

00:11:40 Breanne 

Though you invented a smoothie right that is sold to the roaster. 

00:11:44 Alexis 

Yeah, for my senior project I actually sat down and created a barista training, so every barista was getting the same training so everybody knew the same knowledge so that we were all making drinks the same. 

00:11:56 Alexis 

Along with that, I made a smoothie that we. 

00:11:59 Alexis 

Now sell at the Roar. 

00:12:00 Alexis 

Store as just kind of a slightly different drink, but also one that you see around school all the time. 

00:12:06 Alexis 

There's always you stop in somebody's hand around here. I also helped make a lot of the oatmeal bites. I tend to miss them more than I fully make them. 

00:12:17 Alexis 

I also make parfaits almost every morning, so it just really depends on what's needed for the day. 

00:12:23 Deb 

And I should. 

00:12:24 Deb 

I should preface that by saying we were able to acquire a lot of our breast equipment through a Rachel Ray ProStart Grant go grant that we received a couple of years ago and then we have partnered with CAFEA. 

00:12:37 Deb 

Who has been? 

00:12:38 Deb 

They have been absolutely amazing and they come in and help us with our barista training as well. 

00:12:42 Breanne 

OK, so we've been visiting about the Ctte Roar Store and it sounds like there's a lot of industry grade equipment. 

00:12:47 Breanne 

How did the program acquire some? 

00:12:48 Breanne 

Of those things. 

00:12:49 Deb 

So we've been really fortunate we were the our barista equipment. 

00:12:54 Deb 

Kind of came to be. 

00:12:55 Deb 

We were able to write and receive a Rachel Ray GoProStart grant a couple of years ago and that really got us going. 

00:13:04 Deb 

Our goal was to allow students to get some real hands on experience and have some some specific industry training. 

00:13:11 Deb 

So being a barista in the area that we live and there's so many jobs for our students. 

00:13:16 Deb 

And that's been it's just expanded from there. 

00:13:18 Deb 

So with that grant we reached out to CAFEA in Sioux Falls and they have been an amazing partner. 

00:13:26 Deb 

We they provide us with all Coffea product and our goal is that you don't know the difference if you come to our store or you go downtown, you're going to get the same quality. 

00:13:35 Deb 

That's really what we want out of our baristas. 

00:13:38 Deb 

And I think we've been able to achieve that to a pretty high level. 

00:13:41 Deb 

We also wanted to be somewhat mobile, so when we put our ideas together, we put our coffee. 

00:13:47 Deb 

Our all of our equipment is on a cart, so for example we're able to provide product during events like the. 

00:13:55 Deb 

Car show that we that we do here at HHS through the automotive program in the spring we have goals of some more events we would like to host a get into some of the barista art and have some challenges and things like that for our students. 

00:14:12 Deb 

So I think it sky’s the limit? Yeah, you hear that. 

00:14:15 Breanne 

Coffea we're calling you let's go let's do this coffee art situation, Dan. 

00:14:18 Deb 

Dan, Dan knows. 

00:14:20 Breanne 

Please follow up. 

00:14:24 Deb 

So those have been some amazing opportunities for our students. 

00:14:28 Breanne 

Lexi, do you want to speak maybe a little bit about? Maybe the Chamber annual meeting and catering such large events of you know, making 300 plus desserts for any given experience. 

00:14:38 Alexis 

We start researching just a little bit. 

00:14:39 Alexis 

We kind of talked with the company that hired us. 

00:14:43 Alexis 

In this case, it's generally the Chamber that we've done such big events for and we kind of work with them and see what they are looking for. 

00:14:51 Alexis 

And then we go on to the Internet. 

00:14:53 Alexis 

We find recipes that we think will. 

00:14:54 Alexis 

Work we do a test. 

00:14:56 Alexis 

Batch before we actually start. 

00:14:58 Alexis 

Making them in bulk. 

00:15:00 Alexis 

This last December we made about 200 mini cheesecakes and a couple of sauces to go with. So it was kind of just a production process so seeing how everything was kind of made you just kind of kept making one after the other as if you were like in a restaurant doing the same thing. 

00:15:19 Breanne 

Yeah, now mini cheesecake sounds achievable. 

00:15:22 Breanne 

I think you know, in our industrial kitchen that seems possible, but you also made fifty pies if I'm correct. 

00:15:27 Alexis 

Yes, that took a little bit more effort. 

00:15:30 Alexis 

We had to involve our culinary 2 program. 

00:15:33 Alexis 

It was kind of a few bumps in the road to get things to be all consistent all around. 

00:15:39 Alexis 

But essentially we made everything from scratch except for most of the some of the pie filling, just because it would have been very hard on such short time to get all of that done. 

00:15:50 Alexis 

But between, with the help of our culinary 2 kids, we were able to make all of the crust from scratch and then get them baked and ready for the. 

00:16:01 Breanne 

Yeah yeah, transporting 50 pies across town for optimist giving is no joke. 

00:16:06 Breanne 

That was super. 

00:16:06 Breanne 

Fun that. 

00:16:07 Deb 

And I think the biggest challenge for us is that you know what what industry has that we don't have is like you have your worker come in and they can work till it's done. 

00:16:14 Deb 

We have bells and other classes and after school activities so a lot of my students come in before school. 

00:16:21 Deb 

They give time after school they give time during their zones, et cetera. 

00:16:25 Deb 

It's really is a. 

00:16:26 Deb 

It's something you you know you have to love and it's but I have been really fortunate to have kids that are really committed and excited. 

00:16:33 Breanne 

Yeah, so we actually had somebody new join us. 

00:16:35 Breanne 

This is Lea Lea being sort of an up-and-coming ProStart student and hearing about optimist giving the chamber annual meeting. 

00:16:41 Breanne 

All these catering opportunities and your experience working in the Roar Store, what are you most excited about as the program continues to grow? 

00:16:48 Speaker 6 

I'm really excited about going to the competitions and I'm hoping to do either the management team or cake decorating. 

00:16:55 Speaker 6 

Next year I am kind of sad to see Lexie and Alex go away because. 

00:17:00 Breanne 

Not go away, just graduate. 

00:17:01 Speaker 6 

I know I won't have them as mentors, but we've grown up on so it's I'm really excited to work with my mother in the kitchen and just see amazing opportunities. 

00:17:12 Speaker 6 

Grow out of this. 

00:17:13 Breanne 

Yeah, Miss Robert, did you ever think we'd get here? 

00:17:15 Breanne 

Did you ever think the culinary arts program at Harrisburg High School would be what it is today from? 

00:17:19 Breanne 

You know working part time at South and the high school and now being in a full-fledged industrial kitchen. 

00:17:24 Breanne 

Did you think this day? 

00:17:25 Deb 

Was ever going to get here? 

00:17:26 Deb 

Not really. 

00:17:27 Deb 

I was excited about the opportunity and we just kind of jumped in. 

00:17:30 Deb 

You know feet first. 

00:17:32 Deb 

And went for it I think. 

00:17:33 Deb 

It's it is beyond my wildest dreams of what we could have done and I. 

00:17:37 Deb 

Know that we've. 

00:17:38 Deb 

Really just. 

00:17:39 Deb 

It's the tip of the iceberg, so I'm excited to see where the program goes. 

00:17:44 Deb 

I've been really fortunate to have some students that have been go getters. 

00:17:49 Deb 

You know, movers and shakers and Lexi and Alex are perfect example of that. 

00:17:54 Deb 

They have. 

00:17:55 Deb 

I'm going to be sad to see them go, but they're going to go into this career field. 

00:17:58 Deb 

They have mentored so many students below. 

00:18:00 Deb 

Them, and I think that's that's what's going to carry us, and it's really important is, you know, I just couldn't be more proud. 

00:18:09 Breanne 

So yeah, I think it's in a great spot. 

00:18:11 Breanne 

I think the one thing that people have visited about a little bit is in need for more mentors, right? 

00:18:15 Breanne 

Especially mentor chefs. 

00:18:16 Breanne 

And we've had some great partners in the community. 

00:18:19 Breanne 

You've talked about cafea plum cooking. 

00:18:21 Breanne 

A couple of other organizations that really have supported and developed a program along the way, but what are you in need of right now? 

00:18:26 Deb 

Yeah, mentor chefs are huge people that are willing to professionals that are willing to come in and give up, and that's hard give of their time and their energy and their expertise because it takes the IT takes a program to a whole nother level. 

00:18:39 Deb 

Just like when I got the industrial kitchen chef, chef Nick Sky Ski got us started like he jumped in a few. 

00:18:47 Deb 

Years ago 

00:18:48 Breanne 

Chef Nick Chef Allen all my cupcakes. 

00:18:50 Breanne 

They were there at the beginning, right? 

00:18:51 Deb 

All of them and really made it a legitimate experience for my students. 

00:18:56 Deb 

And that was a huge draw and I learned so much as a new teacher in in this program, even though it's where my background is. 

00:19:05 Deb 

I hadn't, you know, I had some experience in the industry. 

00:19:08 Deb 

But teaching out of an industrial kitchen, it's one thing to work in it. 

00:19:13 Deb 

It's another. 

00:19:13 Deb 

To have 18 students, every class period, and to really make sure that they're getting full benefit. 

00:19:19 Breanne 

Of it, yeah, I hear you in there. 

00:19:20 Breanne 

We all do dishes, we all help everybody. 

00:19:21 Breanne 

's part of a. 

00:19:22 Breanne 

Yeah, it's true of a restaurant, correct? 

00:19:24 Breanne 

Lexie, I mean. 

00:19:25 Alexis 

Yeah, everybody works together to get the job done. 

00:19:28 Deb 

And that's our attitude is it's an industrial. 

00:19:31 Deb 

It's an industrial kitchen. 

00:19:33 Deb 

It is a when you're in my class. 

00:19:36 Deb 

You're in the workplace like we treat it like you're in the industry. 

00:19:40 Deb 

So that means clothing. 

00:19:41 Deb 

That means attitude. 

00:19:42 Deb 

That means workload because we want those students to be work ready. 

00:19:47 Breanne 

Sure, we've talked about like our high school program a lot, and then we know that we have some middle school programs that articulate up to our high school programs. 

00:19:53 Breanne 

So what about our little tigers and our little? 

00:19:55 Breanne 

Learners what's available. 

00:19:56 Deb 

For them, so for example, obviously our middle schools have programs and they have some pre culinary experiences, as will the freshman Academy. 

00:20:05 Deb 

My students go over and do like learner Interest day we're doing one tomorrow and we're actually going to do some some pretty fun stuff. 

00:20:12 Deb 

Do you want to talk about that for a second. 

00:20:15 Alexis 

So tomorrow we are going to go do a kids charcuterie board, so we're going to kind of show them what kind of the recent trend with charcuterie boards have been, and they're going to. 

00:20:26 Alexis 

Their own little smore charcuterie board and the past we've also done at hot chocolate play dough and they've really enjoyed it. 

00:20:34 Alexis 

It kind of lets them get their feet wet into the kind of ProStart experience while still being on their level and hands on. 

00:20:44 Breanne 

Yeah, those sessions are always full in our elementary buildings when we host those so we know it's a high interest area for our kids. 

00:20:50 Breanne 

Because, you know, I think it draws on some of those experiences they have with moms or grandmas or dads or older siblings where they get to do some baking and cooking at home. 

00:20:57 Breanne 

But really, expanding upon recent trends and then hearing from essentially in their eyes professionals right when you culinary interns go over there like you're the big kids and they aspire to be you so. 

00:21:07 Deb 

That's really fun, exactly culinary 1. 

00:21:10 Deb 

One of our projects that we do every year is our tasty Tiger cooking show that we've done in conjunction with Tiger Vision and the media class. 

00:21:18 Deb 

And my students like it's we put it out there for everyone to view so they actually have to prepare something and demo it. 

00:21:25 Deb 

And so anything that we can do like that to help families see kind of who we are and what we're capable of, I think, is really important, so what's up and coming? 

00:21:35 Breanne 

What's the next goal for the ProStart? 

00:21:39 Deb 

Wow, I mentioned the cookie printer. 

00:21:42 Deb 

I think we're trying to kind of expand our baking and pastry. 

00:21:46 Deb 

I think giving kids every opportunity the Roar Store is ever evolving. 

00:21:50 Deb 

We started with Froyo and expanded to our barista and coffee bar and now we have smoothies and we're breakfast. 

00:21:59 Deb 

Burritos on occasion. Special order Lexi's been in charge of that I think just trying to keep up with industry trends. We're always trying to show that we. 

00:22:09 Deb 

We are aware that it's ever it's an ever changing industry and again taking it to the new level. 

00:22:16 Deb 

I think means bringing in more industry professionals so anyone that you know is willing to give of their time and talent we could use you Lexi. 

00:22:24 Breanne 

Where would you like to see the program? 

00:22:25 Breanne 

If you come back and visit HS in five to 10 years, what would you like to see? 

00:22:28 Alexis 

I think it would be probably really cool to see. 

00:22:31 Alexis 

More kids like as culinary 3 and as culinary interns. 

00:22:36 Alexis 

Because at least the last three years I've only known about one or two because once you get to that higher level, there's more things. 

00:22:44 Alexis 

There's more opportunities to do and test, and kind of figure out. 

00:22:48 Alexis 

I also, as Miss Rombough said, would I think it would be really cool to see the baking and pastry program kind of grow and. 

00:22:54 Alexis 

Expand just to see what else you can do. 

00:23:00 Deb 

We've got dreams of like expanding into the other schools as well, like it would be really cool to. 

00:23:05 Deb 

You know to be able to take a coffee cart over a mobile coffee cart. 

00:23:09 Deb 

Like hey, today we're going to be at South Middle School, right? 

00:23:13 Deb 

Those kind of things that kind of experience for my students is invaluable. 

00:23:18 Deb 

It's like it's real, it's real stuff and you can't. 

00:23:22 Deb 

You just don't get that sitting in a normal classroom. 

00:23:25 Breanne 

Yeah, well, thanks for joining us today and sharing all the successes for Harrisburg ProStart. 

00:23:30 Breanne 

This is going to wrap up our Ctso podcast experience. 

00:23:34 Breanne 

We hope you had a great time. 

00:23:35 Breanne 

If you have questions or like to contact us, you can look forward details in the show notes or reach out to any of our instructors or Miss Joanne Vermalen. 

00:23:42 Breanne 

The Harrisburg School District communications director. 

00:23:45 Breanne 

Thanks for joining me today everybody. 

00:23:46 Alexis 

Thank you, yeah you guys have a great day. 

00:23:47 Deb 

Thank you. 

 

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