Sturgis Brown’s culinary team ready to face off in the ProStart South Dakota culinary competition

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - On March 14, Sturgis Brown High School will compete in the South Dakota ProStart Culinary Arts Competition making them the only high school representing the Black Hills.

Wednesday, the culinary team held their last practice before the competition putting emphasis on continuing to develop their culinary skills. Their instructor said while this competition is meant to help advance their knowledge of the culinary world, it is also honing an important skill set they would be able to use in their everyday lives.

“It develops within them a skill set, career readiness, and higher education points. Where they then can launch off from these trainings and can either go off into the real world and work, they can go off to college, or they can at least have a skill set for their lives cooking for themselves,” said Sturgis Brown High School culinary arts instructor Joseph Koons. “You can cook and you can do this amazing thing, get this amazing experience, ultimately have a lot of fun, and then by the end of it maybe something more comes of it.”

For some of the students on the team, this opportunity provides them with a chance to continue honing their creativity when it comes to the culinary arts. Along with a chance to meet and learn from industry professionals at the competition.

“Networking with industry professionals, getting college exposure and university exposure while you’re at this competition, that’s something else the students will get,” explained Koons.

While the prospect of competing on the state level has the team excited for the competition. They are most proud of the improvements they have made along the way.

“If you look at the beginning of the year from now, it’s crazy to see the difference in how much knowledge I have in the kitchen now. I look at our dishes and I am like ‘wow, that’s a five-star dish right there and I am making spaghetti at home’ and I like to see that progress,” said Sturgis Brown High School student Cami Lurz.

“It’s hard to realize how far I’ve come. So, sometimes after I’ve made advancements or gotten so far, I look back and I am like ‘woah’, I was really far away and now I’m here,” said Sturgis Brown High School student Tyler Briscoe.

The team’s goal is to reach the ProStart National Culinary Competition, but first, they would need to rank among the top teams in Pierre, which they said the team was confident enough to make it.

“It’s a little nerve-racking. I think we can definitely make nationals, we just really have to get our stuff together to make it, but I am pretty confident in our dishes,” stated Lurz.

The Sturgis Brown Culinary Team is scheduled to start cooking at 2:20 pm CT on Saturday, March 14, in Pierre.

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