Boot Camp Prepares Teams for National Competition

Four high school teams from South and North Carolina participated in a crash course in Oconee County , SC in March to prepare for the National ProStart®® Invitational (NPSI) April 24-26 in San Diego .

Nineteen students-- the Champion Culinary and Management teams from North and South Carolina -- attended the first ever “Coach’s Competition Boot Camp” sponsored by the Joe and Kristina Crosby Education Foundation (JKCEF) and the SC Tourism and Hospitality Education Foundation (THE Foundation) in Oconee County March 7-9. “Coach” Joe Crosby extended an invitation to the winning teams at the Breakfast of Champions following their victories at the Carolinas ProStart®® Student Invitational at the end of January and was delighted that every team accepted.

Coach came up with the idea for Boot Camp after attending the 2007 National competition and several state events. He wanted to give the Carolina student a place to get to know each other and focus on their events away from the distractions of school and home.

“Coach also wanted to give them an opportunity to practice their events in front of people other than their teachers and their mentors,” explained Education Director Monica Miller. “Just like the dress rehearsal for a play gives actors the opportunity to perform without the director’s help, Boot Camp gave these teams an opportunity to practice their events without having their teachers in the room.”

She noted that students who execute their events perfectly and on time dozens of times during school practice frequently encounter difficulties during the competition, running late or making simple mistakes.

“That’s because --too often-- the first time the students actually present a case study or cook their meal without their teachers present is at the actual competition,” Miller said. “And the ideal time to learn how you’re going to handle things on your own is not under the spotlight, in front of the judges.”

Boot Camp was a wonderful opportunity for culinary teams from Wando High School in Mt. Pleasant and Lejeune High School at Camp Lejeune, NC and management Teams from Thunderbolt Career and Technology Center in Walterboro and Pernell-Swett High School in Pembroke, NC to “do their thing” on their own.

The culinary teams alternated cooking and judging each other.

“One of the best ways to enhance your performance in an event like this is to experience it from the judge’s point of view,” said Douglas OFlaherty, Executive Director of THE Foundation, who served as Culinary Coordinator for Boot Camp. “Standing on the other side of the table, with a clipboard in your hand, gives you the judges’ perspective better than any amount of practice.”

The Management Teams received insight into the keys of restaurant management from Gerald Johnson, Vice President of Purchasing for Cafe Enterprises. Like the culinary teams, they alternated presenting case studies and judging each other. Johnson worked with the students to help them identify key issues in case studies and coached them about effective presentation and team work.

Others volunteering their time to help prepare the students for NSPI were Tim Page of Daniel Morgan Career Center in Spartanburg, Robert Stegall-Smith of Institution Food House (IFH) in Florence, and several members of the Coach’s Low Country Brands team: Executive Chef Greg Schaub, Shannon Stone, Jaren McCombs , Carla Schaub , Drew Pope, Josh Watson, Cory McDonald and Renee Stiff.

Other business partners were Applebee’s, Firehouse Subs, Bi-Lo, First Choice Realty, the T-60 Grill and Table 301 Restaurant Group.

Antwon Graves of Lejeune High School said he appreciated the opportunity to prepare for the national event at the great facilities JKCEF provided for Boot Camp. “It means a lot to all of us that Coach has our back and all these other people are supporting us.”

Justin Edgar and Leila Schardt of the Wando Team echoed Graves ’ sentiment and added that “it was great to get to know the other students.”