BRADLEY CENTRAL’S PROSTART management competition team displays its trophy from the state competition. From left, BCHS teacher Robert Rominger stands with state winners Jacob Bailey, Chelsea Castro, Tanner Headrick, Rayven Cearley and Andrew Lawson with culinary teacher Richmond Flowers.
The winning teams from the management competition and the culinary competition will split $1.6 million in scholarships. Each team has five members.
The management team at BCHS is Chelsea Castro, Jacob Bailey, Tanner Headrick, Andrew Lawson and Rayven Cearley. Each team member contributed a different element to the restaurant concept. Castro, a 10th-grade student, worked on the interior design aspects of the project. Bailey, a senior, developed the marketing and chain of command for the restaurant. Headrick, a senior, developed the floor plan. Lawson a senior, focused on the architectural aspects and design. Cearley, also a senior, worked on the executive summary for the presentation and the menu of the restaurant.
The team feels like the national competition will be very similar to the state level, simply with more competitors. The team also thinks it will be more fun and exciting.
To qualify for the national competition, they had to take the state competition in Nashville in late March. Cearley said she was so excited when the team won that she cried. Bailey said the state competition consisted of presenting the team’s team business plan to a panel of judges. The team had worked on the project for a month prior to the competition.
Cearley said the presentation has to be 10 minutes long. She said the presentation consisted of showing a PowerPoint and triboard explaining their restaurant concept.
“We had a really good restaurant concept,” Castro said.
The team developed a Greek Restaurant for the competition.
Lawson said the team has made changes to its design in preparation for the national competition.
“It seats about 150 now, when at state it seated about 350,” Lawson said.
Cearley said originally the restaurant was a fine dining establishment, but the team decided to change it to adult/casual dining after the state competition.
Research and teamwork were two major elements of the project.
Cearley said it was challenging because none of the students had competed before, so they were not sure what to expect.
Bailey said he enjoyed getting to go to Nashville for the state competition. He said it was fun to spend time with the team.
“I liked getting to meet all the people who came to compete,” Cearley said.
“Winning felt pretty good too,” Castro said.
This is the first time that the school has competed in a ProStart competition. ProStart is the program used in the culinary arts classes at Bradley Central High School. This was also the first time the ProStart state competition was held in Tennessee.
