How to Become a ProStart School

FIVE STEPS:

How to Become a Montana ProStart Program School

All high schools in Montana are eligible to become ProStart schools. While it’s easier to offer ProStart in schools with culinary arts facilities, it’s not required. In fact, there are many successful ProStart programs using home economics facilities and others –equally successful--with no kitchen facilities at all.

The primary requirement is that the school’s administrators be interested in offering the ProStart program to their students.

Step One: School administrator expresses interest in learning more about the ProStart
Program and contact the Montana Restaurant Association Education
Foundation.

Step Two: The Montana Restaurant Association Education Foundation provides
information about the program and discusses a strategy for making it work
in the school. Local restaurateurs may participate in this discussion.

Step Three: The school identifies a ProStart teacher and purchases the Foundations of
Restaurant Management and Culinary Arts (FRMCA) curriculum. While it is
required, the FRMCA curriculum is not exclusive and not sequential.

Step Four: The Montana ProStart Coordinator works with the teacher to secure
provisional status as a ProStart school from the National Restaurant Association and to identify optional professional development opportunities for the teacher. Provisional status is valid until the following January.

Step Five: Each fall, all Montana ProStart schools participate in ProStart’s
Online Data Collection System. Every January a data base of Confirmed
ProStart Programs is published. Schools included in this data base are “official” ProStart schools. This means the teachers and students are
eligible for a variety of benefits including competing at the Montana and
National ProStart Invitationals, scholarships, grants, the ProStart National
Certificate of Achievement and college credits.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about becoming a Montana ProStart school, contact Tracey Eatherton, Montana ProStart Coordinator by email at [email protected].