Robyn Stafford Nominated by NCRLA as ProStart Educator of the Year

The North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association (NCRLA) named Robyn Stafford its 2019 ProStart State Educator of Excellence (SEEA) for outstanding achievement in high school culinary and restaurant management education in the state of North Carolina.

ProStart®, a nationwide high school program that unites classroom and industry to develop the talent of tomorrow’s workforce, reaches nearly 150,000 students in more than 1,500 high schools across 50 states, the Territory of Guam, and at Department of Defense Education Activity schools in Europe and the Pacific. North Carolina is home to a thriving $23 billion restaurant, foodservice, and lodging industry that employs close to half a million people in the state.

“It’s such an honor and privilege to work with my students and help them develop into tomorrow’s restaurant and foodservice industry workforce,” said Robyn Stafford, ProStart teacher at Croatan High School in Newport, NC. “This program is preparing educated, independent students capable of entering the workforce with a high level of success.”

Robyn Stafford was selected for the award from nearly 50 ProStart educators across the state and will be recognized in May at the National ProStart Invitational (NPSI), where more than 400 ProStart students and educators from across the country showcase their culinary and restaurant management skills in a live-action competition for over $200,000 in scholarships.

Continued growth of the North Carolina hospitality industry will require development of a skilled workforce to help meet job demand,” said Lynn Minges, president and CEO of NCRLA. “Great instructors like Robyn are so important to the success and growth of the ProStart program in high schools across the state.”

Upon being nominated, Robyn Stafford is now a finalist for the National Educator of Excellence Awards (NEEA) sponsored by Golden Corral. NEEA winners are recognized one of the following ways, by category (Classroom Expertise, Best Practice/Knowledge Sharing and Industry Connection), where each category winner will receive $3,500, or as a finalist for the James H. Maynard Teacher of the Year Award, where one winner will receive $10,000.

The complete list of State Winners will be announced at the Educators of Excellence Awards program in Washington, DC on May 10^th.