Hospitality students from Augusta’s Capital Area Technical Center recently won the Maine ProStart State Invitational, meaning they now advance to the national competition in April.

ProStart is a two-year culinary and hospitality management program run by the National Restaurant Association and spearheaded statewide in 16 schools by Hospitality Maine. The program combines classroom learning, hands-on training, and leadership development to ready students for careers in the industry.

Four Maine teams competed in the state invitational in late February, including Capital Area Technical Center, Biddeford Regional Center of Technology, Sanford Regional Technical Center, and Westbrook Regional Vocational Center. The Augusta team also won the event’s restaurant management competition.

For the culinary competition, students prepare three courses in 60 minutes working with just two portable burners. Augusta’s winning dishes included Korean mandu dumplings, citrus-miso duck breast, and chai tea cake.

“Competing at the Maine ProStart State Invitational means representing not only our school, but also months of disciplined practice, collaboration, and refinement,” said Capital Area Technical Center’s ProStart Educator, Heidi Parent. “One of the most rewarding parts of this journey has been mentoring students as they discover and deepen their culinary passions.”

Capital Area Technical center has won 11 Maine titles since 2017 in the ProStart invitational, and placed fifth nationally in 2022. Nine students and two instructors from Capital Area Technical Center are traveling to Baltimore for the national competition, is slated for April 24-26.

The Maine competition is paid for by the HospitalityMaine Education Foundation, which also covers costs for the Augusta team’s trip to Baltimore.