Prostart Students Open Trojan Diner

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Junior Shaylee Sweeney prepares chicken to be seasoned for Red Chili Chicken Paninis. Sweeney is taking ProStart classes 1 and 2 simultaneously with Prostart 3 and 4.

By Hayley Gibson

Friday Oct. 23, students in the Prostart program will host the first out of two Trojan Diners of the year. They will be serving creamy pumpkin soup, red chile paninis, hot spiced cider, and death by chocolate cake. It will be served during A and B lunch and is open to all staff members for eight dollars. Students transformed Hopper’s room into a small restaurant.

The program has been going strong since 2003, two years after Meryl Hopper started working at Atlantic High School. Hopper said this year the diner had to limit its customers to only staff members because of the lack of students in Prostart 3 and 4.  There are only 3 students, Ashley Freund, Darien Mills, and Shaley Sweeney. Because of this, Hopper asked students from Prostart 1 and 2 to help out. Those students include: Hanna Redler,  Taylor Anderson, Erin Schmitt, Kaitlyn Kelly, Christian Clausen, and Dawson Carey.

Each student is assigned a job for the day, some will help in the kitchen preparing the plates, some will serve, and others will greet and take orders. Usually the host from Prostart 3 or 4 will plan out the entire Trojan Diner, including figuring the amount of food they will need, adjusting the recipe, grocery shopping, and assigning jobs.

Since there are only three students, the girls worked together. The diner goes towards the Prostart students’ work hours for the Prostart Certificate and it gives the students a better idea of the working world. Hopper said that the students really help the Trojan Diner succeed.