 and welcome to Restaurants Hawaii. I am your host, Cheryl Matsuoka, Hawaii Restaurant Association's also known as HRA, an HRA's Education Foundation. Today is Tuesday, July 13th, 2021, and it's lunchtime in Hawaii. Ladies and gentlemen, today you'll be meeting two very talented individuals. We see a $1,500 scholarship from the HRA's Educational Foundation. They were enrolled and graduated in our local high school culinary program, which is a pro-star program that's focused on culinary arts and restaurant management. They were selected from many, many, many applications that were submitted and today I'm sure you will agree with me with the select committee as to why these two outstanding future culinary leaders are very, very much deserving of the scholarships. They're pro-star culinary teachers, letters of recommendation shared with the selection committee. They're strong work ethic. Cheryl, thank you. Yes, I would like to introduce Gabrielle Colabong. She is a 2021 graduate of Pearl City High School and we also have Kenneth Wong, who is a 2021 graduate of Moana Lua High School. And there actually is one more person who could not attend today. Her name is Ashley and she was also a graduate of Moana Lua. So the Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation gave out three scholarships and we're sorry that Ashley couldn't be with us today. So a little bit about the Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, the National Pro-Star Culinary Program and our local high school culinary instructors. They all are working together in preparing our next generation of food service leaders. So, Siobhan, if you could help me and give a little overview for our audience on what the National Pro-Star Program in our nine local high schools is all about. Sure, so the Pro-Star Program is a nationwide two-year program. It's designed to provide culinary techniques and all the way down to management skills. It is an industry driven curriculum. It does provide real life experience opportunities and it also helps them build practical skills and a foundation that will last a lifetime. Very nice. So I'm going to ask each of our scholarship awardees to please tell us a little bit about themselves. Where you're going to continue your culinary education and why you're pursuing a culinary career. So can I first start off with Gabrielle? Gabrielle, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Where you're going to continue your education and why culinary? Yes, sure. So I'm Gabrielle Colobong. I'm going to attend Leeward Community College this fall and I'm going to major in culinary arts. I chose to continue my culinary education because I always loved cooking and baking with my family or for other people. It's very relaxing to me and I know that I will look forward to working in this industry every day. That's awesome Gabrielle. We look forward to tasting some of your culinary delights. So Kenneth, so can you please tell us a little bit about yourself and where you'll be continuing your education and why culinary? Hello, my name is Kenneth. I will be attending LCC and the reason why I chose to pursue culinary is because I'm really into art and I feel like cooking and culinary is the most approachable form of art and that's why I chose to make it my career. That's awesome. Looking forward to also tasting some of your culinary dishes. For Gabrielle, your teacher shared with the selection committee that you will be an asset to any organization and I have personally seen her gentle caring nature so I can totally say that your personal disappear to key and your eagerness to craft food. Demonstration will always be a successful person in our food service industry and she made a big point. So we're really excited to be honoring you with the scholarship. Culinary teacher said that you entered culinary knife competitions and that you received and that you were given a really if you're given really complicated culinary to give up and make excuses but not you through the challenges asking the right questions and you always look at how to get things done with efficiency. So we're really looking forward to meeting the two of you today. So one of the questions we have for the both of you is can you share with our listeners and followers a little bit about your experience in the pro start program. Gabrielle, you want to go first? First. So I actually didn't do the two full years like I'm sure Kenneth did but I did do some of the assignments on the pro start website for school and the site was very easy to use for me. There's videos, there's guiding questions throughout the lessons and just a lot of information about the different segments of the industry. I want to be a pastry chef so I enjoyed learning about the different levels of being a pastry chef and also the requirements for each level. Very nice. So Kenneth why don't you share with our listeners and followers a little bit about your experience in the pro start program over at Moanalua? So my experience was brief but it was very pleasant and it made it very easy to enter the the contest and it was overall very very fun. Very good. Very nice. So Siobhan do you have any other questions for our two awardees? Yeah, you know if you were to talk to a student your age what would you tell them a reason why you think they should join the pro start program? Gabrielle, you want to go first? If you're thinking about joining the pro start program I think you should do it. It's definitely a great learning opportunity and if you're unsure right now if you want to do culinary as your career I'm sure the program will help you decide if this is actually what you want to do. Kenneth what would you say to somebody who's interested and inquiring about the pro start program? I think the pro start program is a great way to jumpstart your career and it will definitely be helpful with the connections and the knowledge that you will receive. Very nice, very nice. Siobhan any other questions? I think just one more what would you say was your most valuable experience to date with the program itself? Gabrielle you want to go first? I think that culinary overall has definitely helped me improve my skills not just culinary skills but also communication skills so I value the knowledge and skills that this program has provided me. Very nice and Kenneth? The pro start program provided me with like financial support which was very helpful and connections were also very helpful as well. Very nice, very nice. Well you know whenever you work in the food service industry and many people their first job is in the food service industry I mean I don't have to tell you even the past former president of the United States you know who's a local boy graduated from Puerto Rico he started off in the food service industry did you folks know that? Baskin and Robin scooping ice cream at right by around the corner from his school so a lot of people learn their first job is always in food if their first job is in food service industry they learn teamwork they learn like you said Gabrielle strong communication skills how to work with others there's a lot of skills that you'll gain from the food service industry so that's awesome. Siobhan any other questions? No you know I'm just it's exciting to hear their experience in this program and it's exciting to learn what they've learned throughout the years and even though it might have been brief you know it's given them valuable life skills and I think we're all excited to see where they go from here. And I'm so excited because at a young age the two of you already know what you what you want to pursue as a career so Gabrielle share with us if there's anything in the world anything that you could do and Auntie Cheryl said whatever you want to be and whatever you want to do what would that be? I've told my sisters that I want to help the homeless problem in Hawaii I really want to open my own bakery so if I succeed in opening my own business I want to offer jobs to homeless so they can start to build a better life for themselves. That's so nice so Kenneth if there's anything in the world if Auntie Cheryl could grant it for you and what career or what business what would you like to be? I would like to be a chef because chefs don't only own a business they're part of a community and I think that's very important to support a community so that's what I would like to do. That is awesome well you know at the award presentation it was the awardees and their families got to come down to the Sky Waikiki and the owner you all met Hide he's the owner of the Sky Waikiki he's also the past chairman of the Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation so he took everybody on the back of the house tour and so we got to we got to tour his whole restaurant so Gabriel you want to tell the audience a little bit about what you saw and what you got out of that whole tour? When we went to the back of the kitchen I saw lots of chefs you know prepping for the restaurant to open and seeing all of that happening definitely made this culinary journey very real for me and for me because I saw them like shucking oysters and prepping right we saw that going on back there so during the tour is there something that stood out for you Kenneth when we went to the sky back of the house tour? I saw the kitchen and it wasn't as big as I thought and that just showed me that chefs just have to adapt to the the environment that they work in and they could still create great food. Exactly right I mean we saw them working you know in and like you said close quarters but yet everybody's at a station right preparing the food and everything so that was that was really great to see and you know it's a great he has a great organization up there and a lot of great employees so for the pro start program the restaurant tours who are watching this show a lot of them are restaurant owners and you know right now everybody's out looking for future talent like the two of you and so if there's anything you could tell them about what you gained from the pro start program that would help like help you in the future maybe you could talk about the leadership model there's a management module in the pro start program I don't know if you folks got to go through that section Gabrielle. It's a little hard for me to answer this question because I didn't do that module but I guess I could say that I definitely improved on my communication skills and teamwork skills because of you know my culinary classes and this program so I can offer that. Nice, nice Gabrielle and Kenneth is there anything that you want to say from that module the management module that's part of the pro start curriculum? I'm not too familiar with that module but I will say pro start as a whole has made me exit my comfort zone and as a whole person I improve because of that. Nice, very nice. Gosh you know the food service industry is looking forward to the two of you you know contributing and we know that you folks will be successful in whatever part of the food service industry that you decide to be on you know right now as I walk through Waikiki you know we were all down there together you all saw how busy it is so a lot of people are back in Waikiki again and all the restaurants you know they're all looking for employees and and help right now. So in parting, in parting, statement Siobhan is there anything else that we that I didn't cover because I wanted to be sure that I went through all of our questions? I did want to ask a question in regards to I don't know if either Kenneth or Gabrielle had a chance but part of the pro start program because of the pandemic where I made a lot of everybody had to go to online learning and the Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation was able to put on the Mad Skills Challenge which we have featured before. Just curious if either of you had a chance to participate in that challenge and if you did if there was something about that challenge that stood out to you. Gabrielle are you familiar? I didn't do the master challenge. I did not get to to participate in that either. Well maybe you can let all your friends know for next year if you have friends left over there to keep an eye out for that challenge. It was really fun for a lot of the students you know so too bad you guys missed it but we're still very happy that you guys are in the path that you are going on. Yes and you know we have lots of in culinary right it's it's a lot of different modules training so Kenneth like you did the knife skills and that's also part of the pro start right the knife skills is part of the pro start program. You want to touch in a little bit about that? It's a great way to I guess improve your prepping skills because every chef begins as a prep cook pretty much so it's just really good to kickstart your journey with I would say. Nice nice and then I have a question from the audience of your question because as you know we're live on Think Tech Hawaii. What is your favorite food or cuisine to cook? Gabrielle? I'm not sure what cuisine but definitely my favorite thing that I have made was croissants. It was hard because it was my first time but the process was very I guess relaxing and interesting to me. Very nice and so Kenneth so the question is your favorite food or cuisine to cook? I don't really have a favorite but I guess just food I created from my family is my favorite because you should always see your loved ones. Oh that's true that's so true so if there was a type of cuisine whether it's Chinese or Japanese or Hawaiian like what kind of cuisine do you make your family Kenneth? I think most of the time Asian and like I guess more European type of food. Nice nice and Gabrielle when you cook for your family what type of croissants is French right? I don't cook French like dinners I guess I'm for dinner I usually make like local dishes or like Kenneth I like to cook Asian dishes. Nice nice nice so you know right now it's so popular you know you have those food celebrities those food chefs celebrities and those chefs on TV who do you follow Gabriel? To be honest I don't really watch TV but I watch Tasty and I like to follow the recipes. Nice I follow Tasty also do you follow anyone Kenneth? I follow a lot of local chefs I think they're really interesting in a breath of fresh air compared to the rest some of them are Mark no Gucci and Sheldon a Simeon and yeah just just just the name of you. Nice no I follow them too you know so yes and they're great guys they do so much for the industry too um let's see is there any other questions coming from the viewers Shavanya have any questions while I look at the chat? Nope I think they answered um all of our questions and gave us a good overview of not only what the pro start program is but um an overview on where we might be able to find them next. Absolutely so Gabrielle before we close the show is there anything else that you want to share about yourself and um you know we know you're going to have a bakery and I can see you cooking food baking food for a homeless and teaching them a vocation you know because that's part of it so is there anything else you want to share about yourself or your future desires so that our audience will know a little bit about you? I just want to say thank you so much for this opportunity I'm really excited to continue my culinary education and you know I hope you know if my family sees this I hope I made you guys proud. We're gonna keep in touch okay like I said you know even though this we just met each other and we just started the journey we want to follow what you're doing and what you're up to in the next few years and um and he's so proud of you so dear Kenneth is there anything as we close off the show that you want to share with the with our viewers and listeners? I don't really have much to share about myself but I just want to say I'm very thankful for the pro start program it has really been helpful to jump start my career so thank you. Thank you so much Siobhan you want to just wrap up a little bit about the pro start and what's going to happen next some of the events and things that we have? Sure so our pro start program we're always looking for more schools to join the more schools that we have the more awareness there is to this program and how important it is to our future workforce and a couple of events that we do have coming up are we do have an annual chili cookoff and that one will be coming up in March of 2022 so keep an eye out for that we did have our first one back in 2020 right before the pandemic we had a really great turnout with some great chefs and four of our local high schools were able to participate and everybody got a chance to see whose chili was the best so really looking forward to that next event. That's awesome and if anyone any of the viewers is interested in the Hawaii Restaurant Association educational foundation they can send an email to infoinfo at hraef.org and you know we're always looking for people who went to volunteer we had a food box distribution where we gifted out 300 food boxes we're always looking for events to come attend so that we can get more information about our culinary program we're always interested in talking to other high schools that are interested in implementing this program as you know many many many students are interested in culinary and we're always interested in and learning how we can partner with other businesses and organizations so is there anything else people that we should talk about before we close up I need to check in with Eric because I don't know where Eric went so I'm going to keep talking Eric okay okay so Eric is saying yes he just messaged me so with that again thank you everyone for attending Gabrielle and Kenneth congratulations so deserving so proud of you and we look forward to being in touch in the next few years and following your culinary careers thank you everyone hi thank you thank you Gabrielle