HB in NYC

Hello!

Well The School and its students definitely had a wonderful time in the Big Apple! Here are some photos of the trip to show you all the fun and information we gathered along the way!

A few of us spent Friday walking around NYC exploring. Before jumping on the Staten Island Ferry to view the Statue of Liberty, we grabbed pretzels in Battery Park!

During our annual tour of the Waldorf=Astoria, we were able to see the pastry chefs in action!

This year we also toured the Marriott Marquis in Time Square. Their elevators were quite futuristic!

On Sunday we visited the International Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Show. Check out the awesome fruit carvings!

On Sunday evening, we carried out another School tradition and took limos to Little Italy for dinner!

We had our traditional dinner at La Mela but this year 52 people came! It was a great time as always!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and good luck to everyone in the last few weeks of this semester!

Peace & Hospitality,

Lauren

Spring Break at last!

Hello, fellow HB-ers!

Now that spring break has officially begun (YAY!), I thought I would just take a moment to wish you all safe travels and a much-needed break from school.  I, on the other hand, will not be going any place warm & fabulous for spring break.  Instead, I journeyed to Madison, WI (it reached 42 degrees – not bad for the midwest) for the weekend to visit my sister, and will now spend the rest of my break working.  No, I will not be traveling to fantastic places for spring break; my epic journey begins in 22 days when I travel to Germany for a semester-long study abroad.  I guess I can handle that.  =)

Lauren, however, is doing something pretty awesome over spring break.  She’s participating in an Alternative Spring Break program in Puerto Rico – but I’m sure she will fill us in on that when she gets back.  What a fantastic way to serve and help others!  Have fun, Lauren!

Anyhoo—back to East Lansing.  For all of you who, like me, aren’t traveling over spring break, there is still time to volunteer for Les Gourmets and escape to the Mediterranean for an evening of fun, food, and friends.  The Les Gourmets team is doing a great job getting ready for this event; it promises to be an evening of hospitality at its finest!

Once again, I hope you all have a great spring break! 

Enjoy, have fun, be hospitable =)

Whats Up With That?

Hey all,

So this semester is gonna be intense. I have crazy amounts of homework already.

That’s what you get for going to Antarctica, Lauren. I, on the other hand, have only three credits this semester because I leave for Germany in March.

Aaah! I am so excited for you! Are you nervous? How long are you gone on the study abroad?

My program is three and a half months. I’m a little nervous but more excited than anything. Motherland, here I come! Also, eat the chips and salsa I brought for you.

Stop pressuring me to eat chips and salsa. I’m full! You’re gonna have such a great time and make all sorts of cool deutsch amigos.

Lauren, you are very weird.

Thank you. Anyhoo, what are your plans until you leave?

Well, naturally, I’ll be working on The School’s PR and finishing up my second level internship at the Henry Center. I’m also doing an independent study focusing on German society during the reunification. Eat a ship.

No thank you, I don’t particularly like the taste of ships.

Shut up, you know I meant “chip.” So what’s your plan for the semester?

Well, I just started a new job as a SIRCie in the Student and Industry Resource Center which I am really excited about. I get to help students with  finding internships and help organize open houses for companies interested in recruiting our students. So far I really love it! I’ve got two communication classes this semester, one on campaign analysis which should be really cool. I’ve got two HB classes as well. One is advanced marketing where we have some big creative projects and the other is advanced food and bev where we get to plan an event! Its gonna be busy but I love that we have classes that give us hands on experience even if it is a lot of work.

That’s so true! The School definitely has a lot to offer students.  Are you getting pumped for the up-and-coming school events?  Vegas Night, what!?!  Wanna hit up the roulette tables with me?

I am so down for that! I only have about 50 cents though…so you put down all the dough and we’ll split the winnings like 49/51. That’s cool, right?

Yeah, totally. My 27 cents will make a great contribution to our pot.

Excellent. Seriously though, I really enjoyed playing bingo at Vegas Night last year. Bingo is awesome. I am so gonna be a regular bingo player when I grow up to be a cat/dog lady.

Hmm…I always pictured you as more of a gerbil type person.

To be fair, thats probably right about the level of responsibility I can handle. Anyhoo, Jazz Auction is on February 6th and Les Goumets is on March 27th. Spring semester is full of exciting events for The School. Have you seen the marketing campaign for Les Gourmets? Andrew and the rest of the board have done an amazing job with the showcase and website. The theme is Beneath the Mediterranean Sun and everything they make as part of the theme has been so neat! They even gave out sun shaped cookies to the HB faculty and staff!

I agree they definitely have reason to be proud of their work! Question: Are there any of these cookies left for hungry PR Coordinators?

Hmmm..excellent query, Kelsey. Let’s call Andrew.

Andrew: At Les Gourmets, we believe in the tremendous power of food: both its capacity to sustain the human condition as well as its ability to excite a variety of emotions and stir-up long-forgotten memories.  It is our hope that our fantastic event will be able to open people’s minds to new cultures and cuisines through great food and amazing hospitality.  In some of our marketing efforts, our team worked to extend that spirit of hospitality through simple gifts of fun food for faculty in need of something bright (catch that sweet pun?) in their day.  Since our PR coordinators are so clearly full of sunshine and incomparable beauty, we saw it as an insult to offer them mere cookies, when the pastries would be outshined by their transcending radiance.  Instead, we offer them something so much more special: our company.  We cordially invite our humble PR coordinators, as well as the rest of our university’s extraordinary students, to help make Les Gourmets 2010 the success that the Executive Board has envisioned.  For those students helping us on the day of the event, a variety of foods donated by local vendors will be provided to quell their appetites and to show our appreciation for their efforts.  Long story short: no cookies for you.

I don’t know what to say…success was not ours today, Kelsey, but we will prevail on March 27th!

All in good time, Lauren, all in good time.

Okay well, thats all for now folks. We’ve spent far too much time together and I want to ditch Kelsey now.

Don’t believe her; I’m basically her favorite person.

You’re probably in the top 200.

PEACE!

P.S. In case you didn’t catch it…we have “transcending radiance.” Just saying.

New Horizons!

Hello wonderful world!

I just wanted to stop by quickly to say that I’m so sorry for our lack of posting recently! It was a very busy end of the semester. Over the break, I went on a Study Abroad trip to Argentina and Antarctica! I’m very excited to tell you all about it. Kelsey and I will be posting agian soon; we have some interesting things to tell you about for this semester. As for now, I just wanted to wish you a Happy New Year! I hope it is a wonderful one packed with fun and fulfilled resolutions.

-Lauren

Here I am in Mikkelsen Harbor in Antarctica. The only thing bad about the trip = the furnished parka was not Spartan Green!

Your Mom Wants You to Volunteer.

Hello again faithful readers (to those of who aren’t so faithful, get your acts together!), today we embark on a noble quest to discover the secrets of life. Okay, but really, we asked our fellow HBer to tell you a little about getting involved in The School. I turn this television program…I mean radio program…I mean reading program over to Miss Emily Smith, Auctionaire Extraordinaire:

Emily Smith (far right) poses with Donation Directors after Les Gourmets 2009

Hi everyone, my name is Emily, and I am a senior at Michigan State and in my third year in The School of Hospitality Business. I came to Michigan State as a freshman planning to be a human biology major in preparation for medical school. By the end my first semester, it became more and more clear to me that I was in the wrong major. While vacationing at a beautiful resort in Northern Michigan, I found my passion in hotels and resorts. During second semester, I discovered The School of Hospitality Business, met with an advisor, and changed my major. Joining HB was one of the best decisions of my life! Starting off my first semester as a member of The School was not what I anticipated. The School’s students were all very close-knit, and as a new HB major, I felt like I didn’t know anyone. At some point during my process of switching to hospitality, I was told that becoming involved would help me meet people and build my resume. So I decided to attend our Hospitality Association’s Open House. At the HA Open House, the clubs and events within The School set up stations where students can sign up to join the clubs or volunteer or the events. I signed up for all four of the events that night: CAREER EXPO, Les Gourmets, Auction, and Vegas Night. Each HB event at which I volunteered provided me with a unique experience in hospitality. As a first-time server at Les Gourmets, I was able to get first-hand experience in the food and beverage segment of the industry. I was able to develop a personal connection with my guests, helping to create a memorable night for all.  By seeing all of the hard work that went into each event and through my own experiences volunteering, I was inspired me to take on a larger role. I ran for the executive boards for Auction and Les Gourmets. At the end of my sophomore year, I was selected to be the director of donations for Les Gourmets 2009 and the director of remote bidding for Auction 2009. At the end of my junior year, I applied to be the CEO for Auction 2010 and after a number of interviews, was chosen. Now, in my senior year, as CEO of Auction, I have gained experiences far beyond that which are present in the classroom.  Each year, Auction has a theme and I am particularly excited to be a part of this year’s Jazz Auction which will take place February 6, 2010 at the Kellogg center. Volunteers are always welcome! If you are interested, please email our Human Resources director Morgan Zahul at zahulmor@msu.edu. I can’t stress the importance of volunteering enough! Not only is it beneficial for your resume, it is personally rewarding as well!

Thank you, Emily! Kelsey says she’s def going to volunteer!

Have a very wonderful Thanksgiving everyone.  Get pumped for Turkey (or ToFurkey, if you’re Andrew Bromley)!

Over and Out,

Lauren

‘Cause Everyone’s Your Friend in New York City…

This past weekend, Miss Kelsey and I were lucky enough to travel to New York City with The School of Hospitality Business. Each year, The School takes about 50 students to NYC to stay at the Waldorf=Astoria, participate in professional development programs, network and attend the International Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Show. Kelsey and I have each attended for three years and every time it is an amazing experience! So basically, I just wanted to take a moment to tell you about a few of my favorite things that we did this year both with The School and on our own time. Kelsey will be here later to tell you about her favorites…If I don’t steal her thunder that is.

Maggie, Kelsey, Jessica and by the famous clock in the Waldorf=Astoria Lobby before heading to Times Square

We arrived in the Big Apple in late morning on Friday and after checking our bags at the Waldorf, ventured into Times Square to find the TKTS booth and some lunch. In case you don’t know, the TKTS booth sells discounted Broadway tickets during the day for shows taking place later that night.  Kelsey and I, along with our friends and fellow HBers, Jessica and Maggie, wanted to find a cheap broadway show to see later. Along the way, we were stopped and solicited by a man selling tickets to the Broadway Comedy Club for later that night. Promising that we’d have reserved VIP seats and that the show was being taped for MTV, the dude offered to sell us discounted tickets. After Kelsey asked “Is this legit?” and noting that we are in fact pretty cool and therefore agreeing that we are in fact probably VIP (he clearly saw VIP written all over our confused faces as we wandered about Times Square), we took the guy up on his offer. This was probably a risky decision but nonetheless at 9:45pm we arrived at the Broadway Comedy Club decked out in our finest, ready to be treated like royalty only to find that every other totally normal person that made up the lengthy line forming was apparently also quite VIP. Once in, our VIP tables were actually 6 foot folding tables which we had to share with another party as we crammed into a basement room. Probably a credit to the good naturedeness of our true VIPness, we all took these minor let downs in stride and took a seat. Just 15 minutes later we were nearly falling out of our chairs laughing at the stand up comedians! 3 of the 7 were completely hilarious,  3 were pretty much not funny at all and/or totally creepy and one was a marginally funny dude. All in all, I had a blast! It was definitely worth the ten bucks and the five of us (our friend Stephanie joined us) really enjoyed ourselves. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences in New York and I’m not gonna lie, I feel pretty cool saying I’ve been to a Comedy Club in New York City.

Signing Presidential documents as I sit at President Eisenhower's desk in the Presidential Suite of the Waldorf=Astoria

My other favorite experience took place Saturday morning. After an informational presentation by the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel Manager and some break out sessions lead by recent MSU Hospitality grads, I and the other students got to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Waldorf. We got to see the ballroom, starlight room, president’s suite and kitchens. In the bakery, the pastry chef offered us some delicious pastries and in the main kitchen, the sous chef offered us some tasty appetizers! I’ve been on the same tour three times and each time, I learn something new and really interesting about the Waldorf’s rich history and impressive operations. I love hearing the funny and outlandish stories that Waldorf employees share about their experiences on the job and its great to get a better perspective on life in the industry.

Kelsey and I at La Mela in Little Italy

Those other two things were pretty awesome, but my all time favorite part of traveling to NYC is the Sunday night dinner that is a tradition every year for the HB students. As many of us as we can get to go, gather in the Waldorf lobby and travel to (this year in two limos!) to La Mela, a family owned Italian restaurant in the heart of Little Italy. 18 of us sat at a long table and ordered the 4 course family style meal complete with bread, caprese salad, rigatoni, tortellini, gnocci, asparagus, stuffed mushrooms, red peppers, veal, shrimp and chicken. With endless amounts of food, we were all quickly stuffed and had an awesome time hanging out, getting to know each other and celebrating a great weekend in New York City. Occasionally serenaded by La Mela employees, Luigi and Lorenzo, who played mean mandolins, we sang along, danced a little and toasted our last night in the big city. Shouting “AAAYYY!!!” with each new course, laughing loudly at our own jokes and yelling to friends at the opposite end of the table, I think we quickly became popular among the other guests at the restaurant. Afterwards, we ventured over to Ferrara’s, a famous Italian dessert shop, where we devoured some gellato and cannolis. The trip to La Mela each year is my favorite because I think it, to me, epitomizes hospitality. Hospitality is about meaningful experiences shared with friends and family, it’s about enjoying great food, music and dancing and its about appreciating the moment as you create memories that last for years to come. As cheesy as that may be, it is truly how I feel as I depart from New York, pockets a little poorer, experiences a little richer and memories a little more wonderful.

I’ll end with some lyrics from a song by They Might be Giants, called New York City. It pretty much sums up the trip for all of us who went.

“Everyone’s your friend in New York City/ and everything looks beautiful when you’re young and pretty/The streets are paved with diamonds and there’s just so much to see.”

So many possibilities…

Well it’s that time again – time for a new blog post and a new insight into the realms of Hospitality Business according to MSU.  Increasingly, HB students are combining Hospitality Business with an additional major.  Why, you ask? (Go ahead, ask.)  The answer is simple: Hospitality Business is an incredibly versatile major.   Not only does it look in depth at the world of hotels, restaurants, clubs, and events (just to name a few), but it also provides students with practical business knowledge, which is very beneficial in all aspects of life.  For instance, both Lauren and I are pursing multiple majors; Lauren, in HB and Communication, and I, in HB, Communication, and German.

Here to share her collegiate ventures is Jenna Stretanski, a junior in HB with an additional major in Communication with a specialization in Public Relations (how’s that for an introduction?).

In her spare time, Jenna likes to perfect the art of iceskating.

Hello fellow HB-ers, Jenna here. Kelsey asked me to write a bit about my experience in The School –and how could I say no to that darling face?  So here it is:

 I’m a junior, from Pinckney, MI originally, and I’m studying Hospitality Business and Public Relations. I hope to someday be involved in the event planning industry, and would also love to plan and produce concerts tours. When I first stepped into HB, I was certain I wanted to work in restaurants or catering, but after my level 1 internship, I realized that the food industry was not my forte. That being said, I still had a strong interest in hospitality.  After reflecting on what I love to do, I remembered the time I had helped plan a convention for high school students in my church. I rediscovered my love for the event planning industry, and I haven’t looked back.

I mentioned earlier my level 1 internship which I did at Grand Traverse Pie Company in Brighton, MI.  Instead of baking pies, I worked at the counter, greeting customers and making lunches.  I gained more experience at the Pie Company than I could have imagined possible. I really got an inside view of the restaurant industry and customer service. My favorite part of the working there was meeting and getting to know the frequent customers. Seeing them weekly (and sometimes daily!) definitely made my job worthwhile. My internship was more than a summer job; the lessons I learned while working there outweighed simply making a paycheck.

For my level 2 internship, I worked as the sales intern at the James B. Henry Center for Executive Development located here on the MSU Campus. For those who don’t know, the Henry Center is right by Forest Akers and is attached to the University Club. At the Henry Center, I received an in-depth look at the event planning industry. As a sales intern, I helped the sales manager send and process contracts as well as market our company to potential clients. I was also able to attend a convention held on Mackinaw Island with the sales manager where I had the chance to network with event planners and association executives. Now, I have continued to work there as a conference aide, helping with guest relations and making sure that every event runs smoothly. The one-on-one conversations I have with event planners and guest speakers confirm that my passion for the industry is legit.  I absolutely love seeing the events come together, and the looks on guests’ and planners’ faces after successful events are reward enough. (Not to mention, the food at the University Club is phenomenal.)

Although my Hospitality Business degree and experience will help to increase my opportunities in the future, my passion for concerts and music made me decide to add on a second degree.  I added Public Relations as another avenue to achieve my goals. Although I will receive two diplomas by December 2011 (fingers-crossed!), I was shocked to see how easily HB and Public Relations come together. My desire for both degrees made me realize that I want to work with people and help them to accomplish their goals, whatever those may be. I know that with both degrees under my belt, especially one so highly ranked as that from The School of Hospitality Business, many doors will be opened for me.

Thanks, Jenna.  It sounds like you’ve got a pretty exciting (and busy!) couple of years ahead of you!  Well, that’s all for today, folks.  Thanks for stopping by.

A normal conversation between Kelsey & Lauren.

So – I saw Andrew Bromley (or Broms, as he’s known to some) at the HA open house on Wednesday – the kid wouldn’t stop giving me flyers to join Les Gourmets!  Seriously, I have at least 3 flyers!  Good thing I signed up to volunteer or I might have 5

Oh yeah, Kels, 3 whole flyers.  That’s sooooo many. While you were juggling all those sheets of paper, I was doing my civic duty of promoting CAREER EXPO. Did I tell you that over 100  students signed up? I’m pretty sure I got about umm…ninety…eight of them myself.

DUDE!  ninety….eight?  Are you sure they didn’t just sign up so they could stop talking to you?  OH SNAP!  Really though, that’s awesome!  The student turn-out was great this year – everyone seemed very eager to be involved.  I think that all the clubs and events got a lot of attention.

We met up with Andrew in front of the Les Gourmets booth.

I was glad so many people showed up because I got to chat with a bunch of friends whom I hadn’t seen all summer. It sounds like everybody got some valuable experiences out of their internships. Plus, we got to see Kaitlynn working her magic as CEO of the Hospitality Association and snagged some great pictures! By the way, don’t think I’m not mad about that little jibe about me scaring people away. That only happened once, Miss Kelsey Fedewa!  But seriously, I really enjoy recruiting freshmen volunteers.

I’m sorry, Lauren.  Can we still be friends?  Out of curiosity, did you get the chance to visit any of the other clubs and events while you were there?  I heard that CMAA (Club Managers Association of America) was giving away t-shirts and I know there was a lot of candy being distributed by Auction and SIRC.

Yeah dude, I got some poprocks from the Auction booth! I haven’t had those in ages…and did you know you can get poprocks on your ice cream at Coldstone? Crazy! But anyway, I unfortunately did not win a t-shirt as I was unable to successfully putt a golfball into a small hole about 3 feet away from me. Did you sign up for any other events or clubs?

Oh, don’t feel bad!  Golfing is hard and Put-Put even harder!  At least you tried!  Yes, I did sign up for some clubs and events such as Les Gourmets (which I mentioned earlier), Auction, and CAREER EXPO.  I also stopped by the PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) booth.  I joined that club last year and am excited to be even more involved this year.  I love that there are so many different opportunities to be involved – definitely something for everyone.  So are you getting ready for the big game tomorrow?

Yes! I’m super excited because my parents are driving up from Ohio to go to the game. As Ohioans, we’re counting on MSU trouncing our archrival from Ann Arbor. I haven’t been able to go home and see them since August so I can’t wait ’til they arrive! Well, I have to get going, so I’ll talk to you later…GO GREEN!

GO WHITE!

In addition to being CEO of HA, Kaitlynn (Far Right) is one of the students who works in SIRC.

Opportunity Outlook

Hey everybody!  I can’t believe it’s been 15 days since our last post!  We hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive us!  We promise not to let it go this long again!  It’s been so busy lately – I can’t believe that the 4th week of classes is coming to a close!

Speaking of which – since school has officially been in session for about a month now, it’s time I provide you with a look into the many opportunities HB has to offer!  While in some majors it may be hard for students to find ways to get involved, that is definitely not the case for Hospitality.  It seems that no matter where you turn, you have the chance to join a club, volunteer for an event, attend a visiting leader’s presentation, and network with industry professionals.  In fact, I was just in the HB office the other day and got to talking with Kaitlynn Murphy, the CEO of the Hospitality Association, about what’s in store for HB students this year!  I asked Kaitlynn to share these opportunities with you and she happily obliged:

Hey ya’ll!  Kaitlynn here – I was graciously extended an invite from Kelsey to write about all the great things going on in The School this semester. Before I tell you about all the great things happening though, I thought I’d tell you a little about my role as CEO of Hospitality Association.

My ‘journey to the top’ has been filled with various twists and turns (to say the least); I still look back and wonder how the no-preference freshman wound up as President of Hospitality Association during my senior year.  Enrolling in State was a big choice for me, says the girl who thought her 100-person middle school was overwhelmingly large.  Once I got to campus though, I knew I needed to get involved in some way to find my niche outside the classroom   I bounced around the business school freshman year and was involved in two different clubs.  Sophomore year found me enrolled in nursing, engineering, and hospitality classes – guess it’s pretty obvious which one I enjoyed the most.  I rushed into the SIRC office the day before CAREER EXPO my sophomore year declaring that I needed to not only learn just what exactly a resume was, but also that I needed to magically create one for myself by the end of the day.  Diving in head-first paid off!  By the end of the week, I had secured my first internship and spent the summer in –gasp – FLORIDA! So, for those of you who are teetering on the edge on choosing HB as your major, here are my two cents worth: go for it. In order to succeed professionally you have to be willing to give it your all – and that’s much easier to accomplish when you’re doing something that’s fun – like Hospitality!

Just to prove how fun our major is, I thought I’d touch on a few of the fun things we’re doing in Hospitality Association throughout this semester! We’ve got our Open House on September 30, from 7-9pm, in the Kellogg Center.  Here you can learn about all the clubs and events, highlighting their annual trips/ conferences and you can talk to students and learn how valuable extracurricular involvement is within our major.  The next big thing after that is the weekend of October 16 — HOMECOMING! All of our volunteers walking along the float are definitely going to stand out this year in our vintage tie-dye green & white t-shirts (They’re only $10 for sale in 232 Eppley Center!)! As a school, we’re following with the overall theme of ‘MSU has always been green,’ but we’re putting a hospitality twist on it!  Our specific slogan will be ‘Keeping our green close to home’ (playing off the word ‘green’ used in context as both local produce and referring to money).  Our float will show the process of how food gets into a restaurant.  We’ll have a garden with farmers, a local restaurant manager, and guests’ dining at the restaurant.  We’re really pumped and are hoping to win the best Spartan Spirit award again this year! That same weekend we’ll also have a chance to meet and talk with some members of the alumni board at our annual Golf Outing (I’m hoping my putt-putt skills will transition well onto the real course!).

The first week of November is CAREER EXPO XXXI – Hospitality’s annual career fair.  Numerous companies from around the country travel to MSU in order to recruit the best candidates just from our program for their open positions in hotels, restaurants, casinos, clubs, conference services, spas and cruises. Finally, to end the semester on a stylish note, we’ll be taking a group of selected leaders within The School to New York City during the first weekend of November to participate in the International Hotel Motel & Restaurant Show to represent Michigan State University.  It will be a jam-packed weekend full of professional development seminars, networking with industry leaders, and fancy dinners out in the city! All in all, it’s going to be a busy semester indeed, but I, along with my super-motivated executive board, am confident it will be filled with great memories, and that we’ll be able to end it a sense of pride knowing it was one of the best semesters in HA’s history.

THANKS again, Kelsey – hopefully I’ll stop by again in the Spring and be able to tell you all about the events we’re sponsoring then.  For now, though: GO GREEN.

Thanks, Kaitlynn!  We look forward to hearing from you again during Spring Semester!  Well, it’s probably time that I say good-bye – gotta get to class!  I hope you found Kaitlynn’s opportunity outlook as helpful as I did.  See you all at the Hospitality Association Open House – and  thanks for stopping by!

An Insight to Internships

Classes have officially begun and, as predicted, we’re pretty busy kids already. I’m glad we had Labor Day as one last break before the semester really gets underway!

I’ve run into so many people I know in just the first week that it blows my mind! This place definitely gets smaller the more time you spend here. I think I know someone in every one of my classes, which means I’ll probably need to look presentable in them instead of showing up in sweatpants…at least for the first few classes until the desire to look nice is trumped by the desire to sleep longer. But anyway, I ran into my friend, Andrew Bromley, in one of my classes and really enjoyed talking to him about his summer experience and how his classes are going, so I asked him to tell you all a little about it!

Hey friends, Andrew here.  I’m entering my third year here at MSU, and not to be outdone by the ladies, I also have two majors.  I’m currently studying Hospitality Business and Dietetics and pursuing a specialization in Food Processing and Technology.  Continuing with my resume, I serve as the marketing director for Les Gourmets 2010, director of finance for Career Expo XXXI, and the president of the Eli Broad Scholar Organization.  But enough about that, let’s talk about what I’m actually doing with all of the knowledge I’ve gained here at MSU.  This summer, I completed my level II internship at Birchwood Farms Golf & Country Club in Harbor Springs, MI.  I think my official title was “Floor Leader”, but everyone just referred to me as “the intern”.  As might be typical of an internship in a small business, my job duties were rather…abstract.  On typical days, I supervised the restaurant operations – checked on customers, helped out and managed the wait staff, and generally took care of things while my bosses were busy.  In addition to “normal” work, I also helped to revamp some of the organizational records for the club.  My main project was to reorganize two massive wine coolers which it seemed had last been organized…never.  In the process of grouping wines by grape type, region, etc. I wound up learning a lot about the subject (for example, the difference between a ‘grand cru’ and a ‘village’ – you have to pronounce this [vɪ.`lɑʒ] so that people know you’re fancy – also the extreme impact vintage makes on the quality and value of wines from different areas).  When I had everything organized, labeled, and transferred to a digital kind of ‘interface’, I installed a perpetual inventory system for the wine so that management could cross reference sales with physical inventory every month.  I was also able to pick up some support skills, particularly bartending, that will hopefully help to get me a job next semester.  While it wasn’t the relaxing summer I had hoped for, I can’t deny that I learned a lot during my on-the-job training at Birchwood.

Back at MSU and with the absence of wedding parties lasting until 2am, I’m excited to get back into a slightly more regular schedule (if that’s even possible in college).  In contrast to last year which focused on dietetics, this year should be full of HB fun – I have 4 hospitality classes this semester, one of which is an honors independent study with Dr. Elsworth.  Throughout the semester, I will be working to craft a business plan based on the entrepreneurial concept that won me first place nationally in the Al Schuman Ecolab scholarship competition.  I can’t divulge too much information about my concept as I plan to make lots of money with it at some point, but I can say that it’s a vegetarian themed casual-fine dining experiment that borrows concepts from ‘eatertainment’ strategies.  I also hope to incorporate a powerful customer loyalty program with knowledge I gained in my time researching last year under Dr. Clay Voorhees in the marketing department.

Another HB class that should prove interesting is HB 302, Hospitality Managerial Accounting.  I should say that I’m a little worried that I seem to like my accounting classes so much as my dad is a CPA and accounting professor, and I always told him how boring all of his “accounting talk” was.  The more I learn and use accounting concepts, however, it turns out (sadly) that they might actually be really useful in the real world…

I should run though because I think my ramen might be burning in the microwave – If the girls decide they don’t hate me, I imagine I’ll be back to talk to you later – if not though, it’s been fun!

Andrew’s welcome back anytime, well, at least as long as he has something interesting to say which may not be all that likely (Kidding! Kidding!). But on a more serious note, it was great running into him and I hope he keeps us updated on his independent study and his business plan…maybe he’ll find some investors out there?

One last thing, Andrew shared with us this awesome quote from Rabindranath Tagore that really makes us feel great about choosing a major that focuses so much on serving others. I can’t think of a better way to end this entry; we’ll be pondering this quote until next time!

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”