Seven months, four to six days a week, three to five hours a day at Ben Barber Innovation Academy, nine students and three instructors practice and prep for ProStart State competitions. ProStart’s Texas State competition occurred from March 8th through March 10th where both Ben Barber’s ProStart Restaurant Management and ProStart Culinary teams competed in their respective competitions and brought home first place. Now these students’ journeys continue to Baltimore, Maryland for Nationals from April 26th through April 29th and practice is already in session. This journey through ProStart gave students many opportunities, networking options, learning opportunities, and real-life knowledge. This trip wasn’t always smooth sailing, as there were some bumps along the way, but these students soon prevailed and overcame these obstacles.

Roads to competition aren’t always as smooth as anyone seems to think, and there is a lot more that does happen behind the scenes. Senior Logan Vo from Lake Ridge High School believes that winning State gives them to confidence to do their best at Nationals in Baltimore, Maryland.

“So our journey through state wasn’t always the best. There was a whole bunch of ups and downs, a lot of conflict, but in the end we we came to the team; decided like we wanted to win. We wanted to be number one in the state. You know, we had a few struggles but once we actually competed and got all of that through, felt like a relief. You know, all our hard work finally finally paid off. And like the six months of practices day in, day out like nine hours a day finally pay off we walked the stage as state champions. Just realizing that see the team we did it we actually did it you know out of forty-four teams. We were number one. And I think for me and my team it was very rewarding and like we’re ready to get back into you know, we gotta beat nationals,” said Vo.

ProStart State competition was a place for everyone to make memories with friends and family. This competition allowed students to have an experience like never before. Competitions were held at Waco’s Convention Center and many students competed. Junior Michael Forte from Frontier Stem Academy believes that the most memorable moments were the ones with his teammates.

“I thought we were gonna get first place after we competed. But I was reminded to stay humble.  So I did think about all the other possibilities that could happen all the really great concepts that were there. That honestly made me less confident in our placement and in the ceremony leading to it, I was super anxious, sitting on the edge of my seat, heart beating fast. We were all holding each other’s hands as they were calling the names of the top three selected schools,” said Forte. “And I just remember when they said ‘First place Management goes to Team Twelve Ben Barber.’ And I just remember getting super excited jumping up in the air, smiling, the rest of my team are crying, you know I was smiling. And we got all our stuff, they handed me the medal, and the knife stuff, and all that other stuff. I remember being super proud of myself and think about how all that hard work, all the blood sweat, and tears finally paid off, and we get the fruit of our labors.”

ProStart competition allows for many students to network and meet many new people. These relationships can last a lifetime and create new bonds that were never thought to occur beforehand. Senior Sophia Li from Mansfield High School this competition provides students with many remarkable opportunities that are waiting to be taken.

“Um, I’ve gained a lot during this competition. I’ve gained connections, opportunities, scholarships, long-life friends, and mentoring from my coaches and classmates slash teammates. I learned a lot because when I first joined, I had intro at my home campus, which doesn’t teach you as much and so a lot of the things I’ve learned and retained from now have been me doing this culinary for almost two years now. Coming out of this, I’ve gotten a lot of scholarships for college and job opportunities from mentors who did this program too, and also being offered an apprenticeship at the Fort Worth club,” said Li.

ProStart is a competition for diverse individuals. This competition provides many different events for students to participate in whether they want to compete in Restaurant Management, Culinary, or even individually. ProStart has something for everyone. Senior Molly Esquivel from Legacy High School believes that joining ProStart was the right decision for her to make to aid in her future accomplishments and career.

“Well, I wanted to do ProStart since my junior year of high school. And it just felt right to me, it was something that looked challenging and intimidating, yet inspiring and fun. And I’ve always wanted to be a part of a team of some sort during my high school career, and I thought ProStart would be that wonderful path,” said Esquivel. “And due to me wanting to own my own restaurant of my own one day, I thought it would be most appropriate to join Restaurant Management to get that knowledge in high school.”

Ben Barber’s ProStart Culinary and Restaurant Management teams now continue their journey to represent not only Mansfield ISD but also the state of Texas in this competition. This road contains not only sweat, heartbreak, and exhaustion, but also friendships, scholarships, and new memories that will last a lifetime.