Congrats to the winners of Gingerbread Bash 2025!
A fierce competition with almost 30 entries, all participating schools should feel proud of the work put forward! A big well done to the following schools:
1st Place Tri-County Career Center: Candy Land
2nd Place Tri-County Career Center: Up House
3rd Place Normandy High School: Waterfront Wonderland
Check out our TikTok here for pictures of the top three teams!
Scholarship Application Closes in 2 days!
Deadline extended through EOD Friday, February 6th. Free money for your student's education! Please have your students fill out the Ohio Hospitality Scholarship Application HERE.
Mac & Cheese Teams: Please submit your entries!
Who will make Ohio’s tastiest mac & cheese? The Ohio ProStart and Ohio Hospitality CTSO Mac & Cheese Competition, hosted by the American Dairy Association and Hilton Columbus Downtown, is back with a new format.
The first round will be held virtually, with the top three teams advancing to compete live at the Ohio ProStart Invitational on March 10.
ENTRIES MUST BE SUBMITTED BY FEBRUARY 9th!
Rules can be found in the educator portal here. Reach out with any questions!
Don't miss the Super Bowl of Student Hospitality Competitions- Register Today!
Teams compete for top honors in Culinary and Management, as well as other awards, including Best Menu, Top Culinary Student, Best Team Presentation, and more. Everything you need is in the Educator Portal HERE. 13 Culinary teams and 12 Management teams are already registered—join them soon so we can finalize judges. Student names may be listed as TBD for now. Registration Closes February 13.
The following schools are registered for the Invitational:
- Akron Career Tech
- Columbus Downtown High School
- Tri-County Career Center
- VSCTC Sentinel
- Jefferson County JVS
- Southwestern Career Academy
- Springfield Clark CTC
- Delaware Area Career Center
- Normandy High School
- Stow-Munroe Falls High School
- Penta Career Center.
- Polaris Career Center
Big shout out to our 3 new schools- Akron Career Tech, Tri-County Career Center, Stow-Munroe High School- who will be participating this year!
Schools must have a competing team (Culinary, Management, or Mac & Cheese) to bring an observation team.
Now Live: Menu & Recipe Costing walk-through video (with the competition judge) is now available in the educator portal. All things related to what he wants to see, so that you can prepare your students!
Registration is OPEN: Leadership Lab 2026🚨
Step out of the classroom and into the industry. The Second Annual Ohio Hospitality CTSO Leadership Lab will be held on March 26th, and this is your chance to learn from real hospitality pros, build leadership skills, and connect with students from across the state.
💡 Learn.
🤝 Network.
🚀 Lead.
This is a required Ohio Hospitality CTSO event—and one you’ll actually want to attend. Registration is open now. Sign up here.
Are you an excellent teacher? Apply for the Teacher of Excellence Award
The Teacher of Excellence Award Application is now open! The Teacher of Excellence will be honored at the Celebration of the Stars Award Banquet. The deadline to apply is Friday, March 6th. Apply Today HERE!
Calling NorthEast Ohio! Do your students need real life kitchen experience?
Der Braumeister - Prep Cook Needed
Cleveland restaurant is looking for a no-nonsense individual who responds to checklists, can read recipes, and completes prep on time with time to spare. They will have their own knives and possess modesty. A humble candidate will pause, learn, ask questions, and keep the kitchen clean. The candidate will work part-time to start, then after the probationary period, the pay will increase, and the position will become full-time. Benefits are available after time requirements are met. If interested, please submit a resume or contact jennifer.wirtz@gmail.org
Yours Truly Restaurant in Northeast Ohio is hiring and wants you to apply! This is the first step in joining a group of 500+ hardworking, fun-loving professionals in 9 Northeast Ohio locations.
Apply online HERE or email jobs@ytr.com.
Pre-Apprenticeship Program
Students can earn their COA (Certificate of Achievement) and Pre- Apprenticeship designation. Both are work-based learning opportunities. A COA earns 9 points toward graduation, and Pre-Apprenticeship earns 12. The process is simple, with just a few forms to complete each month.
Email info@oraef.org with any questions.
This is a great opportunity for your students! We currently have 3 schools enrolled: Tri-County, Ohio Valley, and Stow Munroe. Please register your students so we can submit to the state of Ohio!
Click HERE to view the Pre-Apprenticeship Guidelines & Click HERE for the Pre-Apprenticeship Application
Educator Portal
The new educator Portal password is 2025*ProStart. Let us know if there are additional resources you would like to see.
Ohio Hospitality CTSO
All Student Waivers must be completed to use Ohio Hospitality as your CTSO. Link to the waiver is HERE
CTSO Handbook is HERE
Submit your CTSO Chapter Leaders so that we can send out the online training. The link to submit is HERE
If you have submitted your student leaders, they should have received an email with their student leader training! The following schools still need to submit their student leaders ASAP:
Dater & Lancaster
The following schools still need to submit their community service project for November AND December: C-Tec, Dater, Ehove, Lancaster, and Vantage. This is a requirement of the CTSO. Please submit ASAP.
2025-2026 Calendar
If you haven’t seen the calendar yet – click HERE
