Gwinnett students head to national culinary championship in Baltimore for three-course cooking challenge

A team of Gwinnett County students is heading to the national stage, tasked with preparing a full three-course meal under pressure.

Now, Berkmar High School's culinary team is headed to Baltimore this week for the National ProStart Invitational championship.

Berkmar's team is comprised of five members in tenth and eleventh grades, each with a different role.

Junior Miranda Castillo is the team manager, and according to team coach James Bryant, has solid communication skills that are utilized in conversing with judges and teammates.

Sophomore Joseph Boi Thang handles the protein, junior Paola Silverio-Chino prepares the entrees, and junior Vanessa Martinez is in charge of the appetizers.

Sophomore Marisol Gutierrez has had a passion stemming from childhood for making for desserts, now leading the charge in the sweets department for the team.

"I developed a passion because my mother wanted to start her own restaurant, but she couldn't do it because she didn't have the funds for it, but she taught me how to cook and everything like that when I was younger," Gutierrez told CBS News Atlanta.

She said the team has had success in this school year's competitive season, and she's confident that success will translate to the national stage in Baltimore.

"I think we're gonna win," she said. "I'm pretty confident, or we're at least gonna get top ten or top five."

At the team's helm is coach James Bryant, a culinary teacher at Berkmar.

He doesn't treat the team like a class. 

He treats it like a sport, drilling repetition, discipline, and team bonding.

"The ProStart competition is an intense competition," Bryant said. "We prepare by putting them in this position all the time."

Bryant is a former football coach and uses a familiar playbook to prepare his team.

"Every time we practice, we have the same setup, because this is the same setup as the competition," Bryant said. "We give them strict time limits and put them in scenarios where they have to do some critical thinking to figure out how to solve it if they were in a competition."

The scene he is describing places each team member in their designated role while they focus on the precision, speed, and execution in a constricted time.

This could include cutting and folding zucchini, grilling and seasoning chicken.

Bryant's team member said their success is not just formed under pressure, but through camaraderie.

"We're all just like 'oh this is fun, this is fun to do.' It's simple, easy to do, and it's fun working together," Gutierrez said. 

The National ProStart competition is Apr. 24-26 at the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront.

The winning team takes home scholarship money for each member and a trophy.