  High School Food Teachers Take a Week of NORTH MIAMI, Fla. – June 19, 2007 – They may be the top chefs in their own classrooms, but from June 17-21, high school food and family & consumer sciences teachers will be entering the classrooms at Johnson & Wales University's North Miami Campus as students in the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association's 11th Annual ProStart Teacher Training Institute.
"At the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association Education Foundation we, along with our sponsors, are doing our part to keep the hospitality industry vibrant," said Chip Bone, vice president of FRLA's Education Foundation. "We commend our ProStart instructors for taking a week out of their summer vacation to learn about the latest in the industry so they can share this knowledge with their students." The ProStart Teacher Training Institute includes components of courses taught by J&W faculty, including cake decorating, tableside desserts, sanitation, garnishes, nutrition, breads, purchasing, kitchen designs, customer relations, marketing and accounting. After graduating from first-year curriculum, participants have an opportunity to return in following summers for advanced second-, third-, and fourth-year courses. The fourth-year course was just added this year to focus more on advanced concepts and techniques. In addition to the lessons they learn in the classroom, the teachers will also take two industry tours of Seasons 52 and Bahama Breeze, both of which are Darden Restaurants, a sponsor of the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association Education Foundation. According to the National Restaurant Association's projections for 2007, the industry currently employs 12.8 million employees nationwide and accounts for $537 billion in annual sales, a 57 percent increase over 1997 sales of $308.2 billion. ProStart was created in 1994 by the National Restaurant & Lodging Association Educational Foundation to help introduce high school students to the food service industry. The Florida Restaurant Association Education Foundation adopted the program that same year and has the highest enrollment of any state that participates in the program. Johnson & Wales has hosted and taught the institute at its North Miami Campus since 1997. Program sponsors include Wendy's, Darden Restaurants and the Florida Lottery. Johnson & Wales University, founded in 1914, is a nonprofit, private institution. A recognized leader in career education, we offer accredited degrees in business, hospitality, culinary arts, technology and education. With a diverse student body of more than 16,000 graduate and undergraduate students, representing all 50 states and 89 countries, JWU prepares students for personal and professional success by integrating rigorous academics and professional skills, community leadership opportunities and our unique career education model. The university is committed to urban revitalization and thoughtful historic renovation. Through active civic participation and by offering unique learning opportunities, JWU improves the quality of life in its campus communities in Providence, R.I., North Miami, Fla., Denver, Colo., and Charlotte, N.C. For more information visit www.jwu.edu.
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The training institute was developed by the association's Education Foundation in an effort to provide refresher courses that help teachers learn new skills and trends that they can take back to their classrooms. This year's training institute will host 91 teachers from across the state of Florida.