GRAND CHUTE, Wis. (WFRV) – High school students ‘whisked’ it all at Fox Valley Technical College for the ProStart culinary competition.

14 schools across Wisconsin were represented including Kimberly and Pulaski high schools. The Kimberly students are 1 of 5 of the schools participating in the management portion of the competition, where they had to come up with a restaurant concept.

KHS junior Grant Campbell says, “While I don’t plan on going into culinary, I just think cooking is a really fun experience that allows for creativity, and even though we are not cooking ourselves, just creating a restaurant is fun in itself.”

While they might not be cooking, Pulaski’s team had to make an entrée, appetizer, and dessert in 60 minutes for the culinary competition.

“I think we did pretty good. I mean, there was the little things, but overall it went well,” Abigail Roberts, a senior on Pulaski’s team says.

For the students competing, it is an opportunity to learn skills that will not only further their careers in the culinary arts, but in any industry, they choose to pursue.

ProStart Manager with the Wisconsin Restaurant Association Education Foundation Alex Vernon says, “The skills learned by the students at this competition are far beyond just the key culinary and key hospitality skills. It’s also communication, teamwork, conflict resolution.”

The 1st place winner of the culinary competition went to Westosha High School in Salem, while Pulaski won for management. Other award recipients received culinary scholarships for a variety of colleges statewide.