Our fourth annual State Invitational took place on Tuesday, March 4, 2025 at the National Union Building.  Our three ProStart schools, Ballou High School, Roosevelt High School and Cardozo Education Campus each formed a team to compete in both the culinary competition and the management competition.  The teams worked hard and prepared for the competition over a six-month period with the help of their teachers, and Dan Traster, our ProStart mentor/coach.  The students showed up eager and ready to compete against each other.  Both teams brought their best skills, presented very well and performed professionally and timely.  Our awesome group of judges, made up of RAMW’s restaurant operators and industry professionals, critiqued and judged each team in eight different categories, scoring them on a scale of  1-10.  The Roosevelt team took the win in both competitions and advanced to compete on a national level at the National ProStart Invitational (NPSI). 

 

This event was a success thanks to our ProStart Educators, students, and many great sponsors, including The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, The Richard E. & Nancy P. Marriott Foundation, Events DC, Ecolab, National Restaurant Association, LINK Strategic Partners, and Emma's Torch Catering.  ​​

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The State Invitational is hosted by each ProStart state and serves to qualify a student team to represent their state at the National ProStart Invitational (NPSI), which was held May 2–4  at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront.  Student teams from across the country traveled to Baltimore to compete and showcase their skills.  

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For reference, ProStart is the nationally recognized high school training curriculum and program created by the National Restaurant Association. It is facilitated here in DC by RAMW’s Education Foundation in partnership with DC Public Schools at Ballou High School (Ward 8), Roosevelt High School (Ward 5) and Cardozo Education Campus (Ward 1).