Students at Cedartown High School have welcomed a new program this year in the Family and Consumer Sciences Department.

The new program is called ProStart Professional Foods. It is a School-to-Career program and is a combination of Culinary Arts and Business Management fused together.

The curriculum for the program is from the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association.

There are presently 53 programs in the state of Georgia and the program is partnered with the Georgia Hospitality and Travel Association.

The ProStart is a two-year program which prepares students for occupations and higher education programs of study related to the entire spectrum of careers in the food industry.

Instruction and intensive laboratory experiences includes commercial application in customer relations, safety and sanitation, foodservice equipment, nutrition, breakfast foods, sandwiches, salads, garnishes, the art of service, desserts and baked goods, marketing, purchasing and inventory control, meat, seafood, accounting, tourism and the lodging industry and communicating with customers.

The program encourages post-secondary education and students can earn some college credit while still in high school through articulation with culinary schools and technical colleges.

Diane Lanham, ProStart instructor at CHS, has spent part of her summer preparing for the program which will begin in January of this year.

Part of her summer was spent at the Art Institute of Atlanta Culinary Arts School working with Chef Michael McCurdy. During this workshop, Miss Lanham gained experience in the commercial kitchen, seafood preparation, baking techniques and quantitative cooking.

The class is limited to 20 student participants during the first year.