NYSRA News

New York State Restaurant Association Names the Winners of Student Pumpkin Carving Competition

NEW YORK STATE (November 1, 2024) – The New York State Restaurant Association today announced the winners of the first challenge of the 2024-2025 school year showcasing the ProStart students’ budding talents – a pumpkin carving competition!

The ProStart Skills Challenge is a series of interactive virtual competitions focusing on core culinary skills and hospitality management concepts. These contests give students across New York State and Vermont an opportunity to show off their artistic skills and feature a variety of challenges and formats including video, photo, and print deliverables.

For the pumpkin carving challenge, students were judged by NYSRA members on overall creativity, degree of difficulty, and artistry.

“Every student delivered a unique pumpkin carving design and an in-depth presentation on how they achieved their overall result. We are proud to have created these challenges for ProStart students to allow them to showcase their creativity and have fun. Congrats to all!” said Melissa Fleischut, President and CEO of the New York State Restaurant Association (NYSRA).

The following is the competitor information for the winners in New York and Vermont.

New York Top 3
1st Place:
Hannah Horl, Ulster BOCES (Port Ewen, NY)

2nd Place:
Jasmine Shea, Port Richmond High School (Staten Island, NY)

3rd Place:
Paige Van Valkenburgh, ONC BOCES Northern Catskills Occupational Center (Grand Gorge, NY)

Vermont Top 3
1st Place:
Audrey Bowen, River Bend Career & Technical Center (Bradford, VT)

2nd Place:
Danny Gelsleichter, River Bend Career & Technical Center (Bradford, VT)

3rd Place:
Isaac Flibotte, Central Vermont Career Center (Barre, VT)