High School Culinary Team Places First in State

Two West Ashley High School Culinary Arts Teams participated in the 14th Annual South Carolina ProStart Invitational March 6-8 at the North Charleston Convention Center. The WAHS ProStart Culinary Team took 1st place at the State Competition while the WAHS ProStart Management Team took 4th place.
“All teams have worked very hard and put in many after school practice hours,” says Chef Jason Wheless, who runs the WAHS Culinary Arts Program. “Their professionalism, skill, and determination made them model representatives for West Ashley High School.”
A total of 20 teams and approximately 100 students from South Carolina participated in the competitions. The top five teams in each category won medals and the top three teams received scholarships. Both competitions are judged and scored based on a point scale. Judges score the teams on their safety, sanitation, uniforms, teamwork, creativity, skill, knife skills, and taste.
The WAHS ProStart Culinary Arts Team members include Michelle Hammock, Abigail Delgado, Amber Doyle, DaMya Brown, and Victoria Singleton. Taking home a first place medal is a major accomplishment for West Ashley; they moved from 4th place for the last two years in a row to 1st place champs. In addition to the medals and scholarships, the team will now be travelling to Dallas, Texas in April to compete in the National ProStart Invitational.
The WAHS ProStart Management Team members include Grace Deavor, Kelly Cochran, and Courtney Lemay. Because WAHS has not competed in the ProStart Management portion for several years, they were very happy with their 4th place finish.
Michelle Hammock, Abigail Delgado, and Marie Dabo also competed in Trident Technical College’s Quest Culinary Arts Competition on Saturday, March 5 and placed 2nd. The competition is open to Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester County public school students in grades 6-12. Wando, Fort Dorchester, and Stratford were some of the local schools that competed.