Maui's Lahainaluna High School, which has a long tradition of agricultural training, won the first-ever Sustainable Agriculture and Healthy Menu Planning Competition at the 2009 Hawaii High Schools Performance-Based Assessment conference on O'ahu Tuesday.

Five high schools — Lahainaluna, Honoka'a, Wai'anae, Hilo and Kealakehe — participated in the event, in which students are required to grow crops in a sustainable manner and then to develop a three-course menu that meets the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet guidelines.

Lahainaluna won the team and healthy menu planning awards and the overall award. The team and their advisors grew cucumber, tomato and cilantro and developed a menu featuring tofu salad, steamed tilapia with vegetables and mango crisp.

Honoka'a School took second place in crop-growing and Wai'anae took second place in meal planning.

The teams received cash prizes and the overall winner got a dinner valued at $500 at Roy's Restaurant.

The competition was funded by a 2007 legislative act to support a Comprehensive Agrilcture Education Program in the Department of Education.

The efforts to give students real-world training fall under the auspices of the Hawaii Career Pathway System, which brings schools, industry representatives and stage agencies together to teach students about possible career specialties and occupations, gathering them in groups in which career options require common skills and knowledge.