The School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration in the College of Education, Health and Human Services, recently partnered with the Ohio Restaurant Association Education Foundation to host dozens of educators at the annual Ohio ProStart® Teacher Institute at the Design Innovation Hub Auditorium on the Kent Campus.
Ohio ProStart is a national, two-year training program that brings together high school students interested in careers in Ohio’s hospitality industry, as well as educators who implement the ProStart® program across the state.
“Teacher Institute allows educators to connect with each other and update their curriculum to stay current with industry trends and provide enriching classroom experiences for students,” said Patricia Halper, executive director, Ohio Restaurant Association Education Foundation. “Our educators play a pivotal role in shaping the future of Ohio’s hospitality industry.”
Coupled with relevant work-based experiences, the ProStart curriculum enriches, enhances, and reinforces what students learn in the classroom, and provides them with opportunities to develop the essential skills critical to their future success. By integrating classroom learning with real world career experiences, ProStart allows students to learn important skills, including customer service, leadership, teamwork and responsibility.
The United States' Bureau of Labor Statistics accounted for more than 15 million people working in the hospitality and leisure industry in the U.S. as of December 2021, an increase over the previous year. Further, employment in the U.S. hospitality and leisure industry showed consistent growth since 2009; however, this changed in 2020 due to a sharp decline resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Our Hospitality and Event Management website that lists 15 potential industry jobs had nearly 125,000 page views from June 2021 through June 2022,” said James Hannon, dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Services at Kent State University. “That’s a more than 200 percent increase over our second most-viewed web page during the same period, so our hospitality students are clearly interested in finding opportunities within the industry.”
An EHHS video captured the day-long event that included a variety of activities, such as:
- Trends in the culinary industry,
- Networking opportunities,
- A nutrition seminar,
- Cooking demonstrations,
- Panel discussion on the state of the industry and staffing, and
- Tours of Kent State’s Design Innovation Hub.
The ProStart® event was organized with help from Hospitality and Event Management students and faculty, including Diamond Brown, Patricia Carr, Makayla Eddy, Haley Habosky, Ariyanna Robb, Brooke Tsipsis, and Associate Lecturer Deb Pasquarella.
About Ohio ProStart®
The Ohio Restaurant Association Education Foundation (ORAEF) manages Ohio ProStart: a two-year high school program that connects students in the classroom with real-world experiences, and develops the next generation of leaders in restaurant management, culinary arts and the foodservice industry. The Ohio ProStart program includes nearly 60 career technical and traditional high schools, approximately 2,000 students and more than 70 educators. ProStart students become the future workforce of the foodservice industry by learning curriculum from the National Restaurant Association, participate in school-operated restaurants, undertake catering opportunities, enter competitions, and are awarded scholarships to further their education. For more information, visit oraef.org.