2023 -- S 0934
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LC002771
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S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023
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S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N
CONGRATULATING THE WINNERS OF THE 11TH ANNUAL PROSTART® HIG H
SCHOOL COMPETITION
Introduced By: Senators Lawson, Britto, E Morgan, and Rogers
Date Introduced: April 19, 2023
Referred To: Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar
WHEREAS, ProStart® is “a two-year hospitality career-building program designed by 1
the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation” with an enrollment of nearly 600 2
Rhode Island students. The Hospitality & Tourism Management program and the American Hotel 3
& Lodging Educational Institute is a two-year, turnkey high school curriculum with 4
approximately 100 additional students currently enrolled; and 5
WHEREAS, Hosted by the RI Hospitality Education Foundation, the ProStart® High 6
School Competition is an annual event featuring three competitive areas, Culinary Arts, 7
Foodservice Management, and Hotel Management; and 8
WHEREAS, Forty-five high-school culinary students from five Rhode Island schools 9
competed in the three areas, with more than fifty local industry professionals serving as judges. 10
At stake was $500,000 in available scholarship money, pledged by seven different colleges and 11
universities to be shared among the winning teams; and 12
WHEREAS, The culinary team members from the Exeter Job Corps Academy, including 13
Xaalyn Barr, Jaheim Shannon, Steven Sarabia, Michael Rotondi, and Luis Cosme, led by Chef 14
Instructor Mark Bennison, won the Culinary Arts portion of the competition; and 15
WHEREAS, A foodservice management team from the East Providence Area Career & 16
Technical Center including Annabella Camelo, Haley Duarte, and Sade Williams, led by Chef 17
Instructor Marie-Claire McKillip won the Foodservice Management portion of the competition; 18
and 19
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WHEREAS, The hospitality and tourism management team from CHARIHOTech 1
including Elisabeth Kendall, Isabella Basile, Liliana D’Alfonso, Morgan Desarro, and Lucas 2
Segura, led by Instructor Donald Fair won the Hotel Management portion of the competition; and 3
WHEREAS, Winning dishes and desserts from the competition will be featured at some 4
of Rhode Island’s finest restaurants, and winning culinary and foodservice management team 5
members will now advance to represent Rhode Island at the National Restaurant Association 6
Educational Foundation’s National ProStart® Invitational competition; now, therefore be it 7
RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby extends enthusiastic 8
congratulations to members of Exeter Job Corps Academy, the East Providence Area Career & 9
Technical Center, and CHARIHOTech on winning the ProStart High School Competition and 10
wishes Exeter and East Providence best of luck at the National Competition in Washington on 11
May 2nd; and be it further 12
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to 13
transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Exeter Job Corps Academy, East Providence 14
Area Career & Technical Center, and CHARIHOTech. 15
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LC002771
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