GRAND JUNCITON, Colo (KKCO) -- Many students are involved with extracurricular activities in high school, but few can brag about skills like these.

Saturday students from Palisade and Durango competed in a regional cooking competition to see who would be the talented group to head to state.

Everything from jumbo shrimp to chocolate moose were whipped up Saturday for the ProStart cooking competition at Western Colorado Community College.

ProStart is a nationwide program for high school students that develops the best and brightest talent into tomorrow's industry leaders. Everything from culinary techniques to management skills helps these young cooks excel in their potential life career.

This is Joseph McDonald's first year participating in the ProStart program, but he has had a passion for food and cooking ever since he was little.

"Everybody eats it, so I might as well get better at cooking," says McDonald.

When he was told about the opportunity to get more involved behind the grill he knew it was for him.

Joseph and his team members cooked up their best 3 course meal today, all under 60 minutes.

Professional chefs judged their cooking, the way it tasted, and the way the food was presented when given to the judges.

"Well we're always impressed by the level of skill that these high school students are bringing and how that compares to their piers. We do see some similar errors from time to time, but those are minor flaws and cooking techniques that will be ironed out more experience," says ProStart judge, Jon St. Peter.

Not only did these high school cooks impress the judges with what they fried up in the kitchen Saturday, their teachers and parents also get any enjoyment from all their hard work.

"I’m very proud of them, and glad they feel so proud of themselves, and that's really what's fun about it, is to see how proud they are of what they've accomplished, that they got it done and it looks good and we hope it tasted good," says ProStart teacher Linda Motz.

Joseph says that he's preparing to go to Culinary school in Grand Junction or at Johnson Wales in Denver

ProStart is looking for mentors, any restaurants in the Grand Valley that would be interested in working with these students can call Dan Kirby at 255-2632.