Bonita Unified's culinary program gets national attention

LA VERNE, Calif. (KABC) -- Bonita High School students Charli Padilla and Abby Brandler recently won the grand prize in a national EcoLab culinary competition. The idea included a food truck concept that earned them a trip to Chicago to serve up their French Toast Bites dish to industry insiders with the National Restaurant Association.

"Thinking of breakfast ideas, a lot of the times it's the same ol thing every single time, so our idea was to elevate breakfast," said Abby Brandler."

"This experience has really given us leverage being able to network with so many industry professionals," said Charli Padilla.

The opportunity came through the ProStart program, which ties in both culinary arts and restaurant management.

"In our program, we focus on front of the house and back of the house," said Laurie Brandler, who helped start the program 20 years ago at Bonita High School. Ten years later, her husband Nick hopped on board at San Dimas High School.

"We were like tweaking every year, we would be like next year we need to do this and so we would prepare our kids and say if you wanna take it all the way, this is what it's gonna take," said Nick Brandler.

Maybe you can say it's in the air since La Verne and San Dimas are just about 10 minutes away from Cal Poly Pomona and it's Collins College of Hospitality Management.

"It's just a nationally recognized program and to have it in our backyard is such an advantage for our students, especially those that aren't sure if they want to go away to school and kind of want to stay local," said Laurie.

For Nick and Laurie, this is EXTRA special. Abby isn't just a top student- she's their daughter!

"To be able to execute something that as a kid who's like oh that's gonna be me one day, it's been like amazing to have," Abby said.