Indus ProStart classes went to the Sysco Minnesota Invitational Feb. 25-26 to cook in the culinary arts event.
There are two categories of competition: culinary and management. In Minnesota, there were 10 teams competing in culinary (including Indus) and three in management. There are approximately 41 schools in the state who have a ProStart program.
The Indus team included second year (ProStart II) students Tylor Hanson and Danny Patch, first year (ProStart I) student Jace Nelson, and Nathan Lewis, who completed two years of ProStart instruction last year, as well as instructor Lois Lewis. “This is the third year we have had a team go to the Invitational,” Lewis stated.
Indus ProStart team cooked three courses. To start, the team made a shrimp and watermelon mélange. Their main course was braised bacon-wrapped chicken roulade with Brie, spinach, and mushrooms served with rice and squash. For their dessert, they made a steamed chocolate lava cake.
The purpose of the ProStart Invitational is to showcase students’ talents and abilities in cooking. Scholarships and awards are offered to the top placing teams. The team that places first goes on to the National ProStart Invitational in Seattle.
In this competition, the team showed their knife skills of mincing, dicing, julienning, and chiffonading. Jace Nelson and Nathan Lewis were picked to perform this talent using ingredients for their menu. The team also had to do their “mise en place” or putting things into place before starting to cook. After that, they had an hour to cook two portions of the full meal. During this time, they exhibited a number of chef skills such as pounding chicken and rolling it into a roulade, making sauces, whipping cream, using a bamboo steamer, frying and braising — all without electricity and only using two butane burners.
The judges of the competition are chefs from Minnesota and surrounding states. They taste the food and critique it, then comment on the team’s performance. The judges had many compliments for the Indus team, not only about their menu, but also about their costing booklet. They also learned about improvements they could make.
This experience was a highlight for the ProStart students, who had devoted many hours after school to practicing and honing their cooking skills. Chef Ray of Concordia Language Villages made two trips up to Indus to mentor the students and to teach them workplace skills, and the team is indebted to him for all of his help.
North Star Electric and Hospitality Minnesota were acknowledged for financial assistance during the past year to help pay for the Invitational and the Competition Boot Camp students attended last fall. Lewis said, “Attending these events was a great learning experience and students are already asking if they can participate next year.”
Area Family and Consumer Sciences teachers attending the Minnesota State Conference included Jamie Trenberth, of Hibbing, Carol Pengal, Hibbing, Jeri Nordlund, Littlefork, Jeanne Bymark, Hibbing, Lois Lewis, Indus/Birchdale, and Marva Fairchild, International Falls.
Area Family and Consumer Sciences teachers attended the annual state conference of the Minnesota Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Feb. 26-28 in St. Cloud. The theme of the conference was “Focused Action Changes Society.”
Featured in the program were keynote addresses by Dr. Jody Janati, Ed.D. of the University of Minnesota speaking on “Balance Your Conflict” and Paula Palmer of the Minnesota Department of Education speaking on “CTE and You: Transform and Lead, Learning that Works.”
An educational excursion was offered on the first day of the event, along with the chance to take a ServSafe class and test or a certification exam administered by the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.
AAFCS offers certification in four areas: General Family and Consumer Sciences, Human Development and Family Studies, Hospitality, Nutrition and Food Science and Personal and Family Finance.
Concurrent sessions featured speakers on a wide range of topics related to personal development, family/children/relationships, food, design, financial literacy, and technology.
Sample sessions included Jenna Amundson of the Minnesota Department of Education who spoke about “Healthy Snack Laws” and Betsy Whitlatch, an attorney, who spoke about “Digital Property: Where Does It Go When You Die?”
Instructors from Alexandria Technical and Community College spoke about Interior Design programs and Careers in Fashion Management. Roundtable sessions, a silent auction, and business meetings rounded out the program.
Fr. Ben Hadrich of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church reads to sixth graders in Indus School library as they “Drop Everything and Read” during Dr. Seuss Week.
Ever notice how birthdays roll around too fast? The birthday of Dr. Seuss is no exception — but March is already here and Indus School students spent the first week of March celebrating reading and recognizing the many contributions of Dr. Seuss through the writing of children’s books.
The usual fun days started off Monday with “Kid in a Hat Day,” followed by “Bedtime Story Day” and the wearing of pajamas to school Tuesday. Children cozied up in the library to “drop everything and read” at 2:30 p.m. that day, along with guest readers from the community.
Of course, foxy socks had to make their appearance Wednesday so the preschool through grade one students could attend a “Sock Hop.”
Thursday was the day to wear green — your grinchiest green.
And no celebration of Dr. Seuss would ever be complete without “Who-ville Hair Day” Friday when “you can wear your hairdo styled, you can wear your hairdo wild!” Students were treated to a movie and popcorn.
Library Aide Janet Hasbargen helped to coordinate the activities of the week, along with several others. Senior Alex Knoff did the honors of wearing the “Cat in the Hat” costume for this year’s celebration, joining elementary students in the commons as they tasted a Dr. Seuss birthday cake.
All in all, students reported it was a fun week, with lots of reading for everyone.
