Congratulations Chefs! Maxwell High School of Technology educator and student win ProStart honors

     A student and culinary arts teacher from Maxwell High School of Technology were recently recognized for their excellence and dedication to food service and culinary arts at the 2025 Georgia ProStart Invitational. The invitational is a statewide competition for student culinary and hospitality management teams to demonstrate their skills. Chef Belinda Delvasto was named the Georgia ProStart Educator of the Year, and Dayla Brown was named ProStart Student of the Year.

     "I'm truly honored and surprised, as there are many wonderful chef instructors at Prostart," says Delvasto. "I like to teach my students about responsibility (owning decisions and following through), accountability (demonstrating trustworthiness and dependability), flexibility (being able to pivot whenever needed), and self-awareness (understanding your behavior, feelings, and motivations, and how they impact you and others). These are all characteristics that can assist them in their career path and in life. I'm blessed to be a part of GCPS and to share my knowledge with students."

For her achievement, Brown was awarded a scholarship to the college of her choice. She says she is inspired by the endless possibilities the culinary arts afford her. “Culinary Arts has so many outlets to choose from; it's not just about cooking, and that's the main thing I will love in my future career. Even if I don't follow the cooking path, there are still other things to choose from,” Brown shares. “I plan to attend Johnson & Wales University, where I will obtain a bachelor's degree in Food and Beverage Management and an associate's degree in Baking and Pastry. After gaining more experience in restaurants and bakeries, I would love to own my own bakery later in life.”

ProStart is a two-year high school career and technical education program that provides high school students interested in food service with the opportunity to develop their skills and engage in hands-on activities that promote career readiness. More than 2,000 schools nationwide participate in ProStart, with 214,000 students in the program.