The Roseville High School culinary program sent 5 students to Pomona California for the ProStart Culinary Competition. The competition took place on Sunday, March 19, and Monday, March 20.

The students who competed were seniors Zaniya Jones, Johniece Jones, Kimberly Diaz, Brianna Hithe, and Oliver Phillips.

The team had a mere 16 minutes to prepare a three course meal, with 30 schools competing in total. Zaniya Jones, one of the competitors, enjoyed the competition and the opportunity it arose to meet different people.

“It was pretty fun, we got to meet other schools and other competitors who were competing against us so it was pretty fun,” Zaniya said.

The teams made their meals to the best of their abilities and as efficiently as possible while the judges walked around observing the teams and asking the students questions. Johniece felt that this experience was exciting and it was nice to be in a new environment.

“It felt kinda good. This was my first time actually doing a competition like this and I’m not like a cook so it was actually a great experience,” Johniece said.

From knife skills, cooking methods, researching menus, the team was put to the test. Culinary teacher Angela Ash feels the competition was undoubtedly stressful, yet credits the outcome with potentially guiding her students through their lives.

“The Prostart Comp is huge, it’ll help the students in life in general. I don’t know if any of them will pursue culinary per se, but just meeting at that level of professional and being exposed to that level of stress is just really beneficial.” Ash said.