Post Falls student chefs place sixth at national ProStart competition

Post Falls High School’s student chefs finished sixth in the nation at the National ProStart Invitational in Baltimore, a result that missed the championship by less than three points and set a new mark for Idaho teams.

The finish mattered in Kootenai County because it pushed a local school program onto a national stage built for the restaurant industry. Team Idaho competed against students from 47 states and the District of Columbia, and the National Restaurant Association said the event carried $200,000 in scholarships. For Post Falls, the result was more than a trophy-case moment. It showed that students from a North Idaho classroom and kitchen can measure up in a competition that mirrors the pressure of a professional dining room.

Justin Lee, executive chef at The Coeur d’Alene Resort and the team’s coach, said the group’s placement was the best Idaho had ever achieved at the event. He said helping bring Idaho back to the national stage was “incredibly rewarding,” and he and educator and coach Nicole Hessa had spent the season rebuilding and growing the program.

The students had to do far more than cook well. ProStart’s culinary competition required a three-course menu prepared and plated in one hour without running water or electricity, using only two butane burners. That setup forced the Post Falls team to work with the timing, communication and organization of a real kitchen crew. Lee said the team was behind during nationals but recovered because its preparation held up under stress. He also said the group’s nationals run was not even its best practice performance, yet the students stayed calm, finished on time and trusted the system they had built together.

Their appetizer showed the level of detail behind the finish: a kataifi-encrusted jumbo scallop on avocado puree with brûléed apples, chèvre mousse, carbonated orange, pickled Idaho huckleberries, pea tendril, sorrel, grape tomatoes and Idaho steelhead roe. The plate tied the team’s work to Idaho ingredients while showing the kind of precision that can lead directly into restaurant kitchens, catering operations and hospitality careers across North Idaho.

Post Falls junior Kadence Powell called the result shocking and described the experience as exciting, nerve-racking and intense. That reaction fits a team made up of Devanie Robert, Davien Anthony, Madison Cornett and Danica Bastedo, who carried Post Falls into a national competition that reaches about 130,000 students in more than 1,700 high schools nationwide. For a Kootenai County program, sixth place in Baltimore is more than a finish. It is a signal that local training, mentorship and industry ties are producing students ready for the work force already feeding North Idaho’s restaurant and tourism economy.