ROCHESTER — Creating innovative restaurant menus, crafting decadent layers of glaze and blood orange caviar and pan searing duck breast were just a few of the techniques practiced by Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School students in preparation for the Massachusetts ProStart Invitational which took place on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Old Colony took the cake at the competition (literally and figuratively) with the management team placing first in the competition, making this the fourth year in a row that the Old Colony management team won the state championship, and the cake decorating team placing in first and second for their division.

In addition, the culinary team received “numerous compliments from judges about their teamwork and professionalism.”

The management team now looks forward to representing Massachusetts for the national competition in Baltimore this May.

During competition, the management team presents a restaurant concept, whole menu, interior design and an analysis of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, according to junior Anthony Rampino, a member of the management team.

“I think there’s a lot of teamwork and then really just communication, being able to talk, having presentation skills, projecting,” said junior Leah Hollenbeck, a member of the management team who won Best Overall Presentation at the competition.

Junior Elijah Morgado described the win as “exhilarating.”

“We had put all that time and energy into coming up with this concept and getting to go present it,” said senior Piper Brodo, a competitor on the management team. “Winning first place really felt like the best feeling in the world.”

Seniors Lilah Barros and Abigail Dawicki won the cake decorating division, with Barros’ cake placing first and Dawicki’s cake placing second.

Both students expressed that their passion for baking resonated with them from a young age, inspiring them to pursue this speciality at Old Colony.

Barros’ cake was composed to look like a ramen bowl with an anti-gravity feature, detailed with fondant noodles and a chopstick at the top while Dawicki carved a flat cake to look like a chef coat with pastry fondant embellishing the sides.

“My cake placed first. I think it was kind of shocking if anything like hearing your name being called for that,” said Barros. “I was just really proud of myself for being able to do that.”

“I think we’re also just so proud because there were like 21 people. It’s not like you’re going up against five other people, it’s a whole group of people,” said Dawicki. “So that made it even more special.”

The culinary team presented Korean-inspired dishes, inspired in part by the mother of senior team member Geneva Garrier.

Garrier made the appetizer, a vermicelli rice noodle wrapped shrimp with ginger miso dressing and sophomore Kara Raposo created a coral tuile for the garnish.

Senior Jordan Medeiro cooked the entree, a pan seared duck breast served with garlic fondant potatoes, spicy butternut squash puree and bok choy while senior Julia Raposo crafted a Chinese chocolate five spice cake inside of a blood orange mousse for the dessert.

As a team mostly composed of seniors, the final competition was bittersweet.

“This is definitely the best experience we could have all had just because of how close we are and we always supported each other throughout,” said Medeiro.

“I’ve had multiple different teams but this team I feel like I related to them the most because they’re all my best friends and my sister,” said Julia.

Old Colony culinary arts teacher Samantha Clarke praised the dedication of the competitive teams and is proud of their results.

“It is a great reward because they put in so much hard work and extra on top of their daily academic and vocational program work,” said Clarke. “They have to do this all on their own time, extra after school or on weekends. It’s really exciting to see when they get the results they practiced for.”