Education leader congratulates school’s culinary arts program
By Michael S. Hoey
CORRESPONDENT
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Tony Evers visited Lake Geneva Badger High School on May 30 to congratulate Badger’s national champion ProStart culinary arts team and tour the school.
“What an honor,” Evers said of the national championship. “What a great program.”
Evers arrived at Badger at about 1 p.m. and congratulated the ProStart team on its performance at the 12th National ProStart Invitational in Baltimore in April. Before winning at the national level, Badger’s team won the state competition in March.
At the national event, Badger’s team took first for restaurant management. The Badger team developed a business plan for an original concept restaurant called Pasta Piatto. Evers spent some time talking with the students about the winning plan. The team was evaluated on oral and visual presentations, written work and materials including a floor plan, menu, food pricing, health and safety regulations and budget statements.
The students described their restaurant plan as an Italian Panera that was modern, industrial and comfortable. The team put together a marketing plan that included designating certain nights to help out local schools in an effort to help the community. The plan for the restaurant was detailed right down to the LED menu board the team included and a system to track sales.
The Badger ProStart program is one of 80 such programs in Wisconsin and uses the National Restaurant Association two-year college preparation program for culinary arts and restaurant management to provide career and technical education to students through real-world hands-on experiences.
The National ProStart Invitational had more than 350 student participants from 43 states, territories and the Department of Defense. Culinary Arts teacher Russ Tronsen leads Badger’s ProStart team.
Tronsen said the attention the team has received has given the team a small taste of what a career as a professional chef can be like. He said many of his students desire to be celebrity chefs some day and the whirlwind of activities like this is what they would be in store for. The team was set to meet U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson last week as well.
Evers said he was impressed with what he saw at Badger. After visiting with the ProStart team, he toured the building and visited the school store, the music department, the fitness center, and the art, technology and agriculture departments. Evers said he thinks Badger resembles a technical college campus and represents many of the initiatives he hopes to promote statewide.
Evers asked Tronsen how he was able to direct such a successful program year in and year out. Tronsen said the district’s focus was on creating a vocational food service program when he was hired. He said his food service industry experience, Lake Geneva’s tourism industry and a great local hospitality industry contribute to the program’s success as does great support from area industries, the school and local taxpayers who approved two referendums that resulted in an expansion and update of the culinary arts facilities.
Tronsen also said the kids in the program are very dedicated. He said the program meets after school much like a sport but runs longer than sports beginning in November and running through March.
Evers presented the team with a plaque commemorating their accomplishment.
“This was a lot of work,” he said. “No matter what you do after high school, this is something you will always remember.”
