Career and Leadership Development Academy Hospitality Day Blog (Class of 2023)

Throughout the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce’s Career and Leadership Development Academy eight month program, each of the eight middle schools are assigned a day to write about their experiences. 43 students from across all eight New Hanover County middle schools participated in the fourth industry exploration day, Hospitality, on December 7 at Blockade Runner Beach Resort. In addition to learning about the departments and careers in a beach resort, they had the opportunity to hear from Rebecca’s Charcuterie about a special catering business and entrepreneurial endeavor as well as Perfect Touch Rental, a tent and event and inflatable rental company. They also heard from Genia Artis, Director of Events at the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce. They experienced so much in just four hours. Learn more about their experience from these 7th graders in their own words. 

Your experience today:

Our experience at Blockade runner was amazing! Our first experience as 7th graders in this program and at this resort amazed our whole group and  when we saw all the rooms, halls, food, views, and pools it immediately caught all our attention.One of the most fascinating things we learned was  about lots of different jobs you could go into when your in the field of Hospitality.We got to learn all about the big details that most people don't get to see.we got to also go into special rooms and even hotel rooms we also got to go on the roof and see the beautiful background!We also got to take a free tour at the end and got to have free play so we could play football, frisbee, and more! But the only thing that could beat this one experience is the whole program itself. Every time we go on a field trip it almost gets better and better every time.being in this program is amazing and from first going to LiveOak Bank to now in Blockade runner has been a great experience! We also even got to go to the beach! My personal experience was great,this might even be my favorite trip yet because even though we weren't real customers they treated us and me like one and my favorite part of this trip is going outside and playing football and looking off the roof.The best part that everyone agrees on is the different rooms we went in.The rooms we got to go in was the Hotel,kitchen,maintenance,front desk and more!

What we saw:

First we learned about maintenance. The guy that talks about maintenance and how they have nothing in the rooms are broken so the guest could have a good stay at the resort . He also made sure that the elevators  were working. Then we went into the kitchen and saw the chef make steak and fries. They said they feed their whole staff everyday. Then we went to the front desk and learned that they like to get to know their customers. The housekeeping staff said if customers want anything in their room like sheets, if they wanted them in a certain color, they could do it. Last we learned about the rooms, the first one we saw was the most expensive room. It had a balcony acorn/onion chair thingy it also had a bathtub with a TV. The floors have different themes to signify their differences. 

Who we heard from:

    We learned from many people today about hospitality, businesses, and people's jobs through hospitality. One woman who presented to us today who really stood out was Rebecca. Rebecca accidentally started a charcuterie board business making cheese boards with meats, fruit, vegetables, breads, crackers and lots of different cheeses! At first she was trying to just make a small little charcuterie board for her daughter's graduation and posted it on facebook. After Rebecca posted the picture of the board she got lots of comments and questions from people asking her to make them one for parties and events so then she soon discovered that she was really good at this and created her own business called Rebecca's Charcuterie! 

    We also heard from a man named Chris Montero. Chris started a business called Perfect Touch Rental! Growing up Chris always wanted to make sure things were running smoothly, everyone was prepared, and things were organized and ready. During quarantine he and his friends came together and came up with the business to help people organize, rent, and prepare things for events like setting up chairs, tents, rugs,and inflatables! 

   We had another lady speak to us and her name was Genia Artis. She is a group coordinator who plans events, and makes reservations and plans. She has worked at many hotels such as hilton hotels, marriott bonvoy courtyard, and holiday inns! She actually went to Williston Junior High then New Hanover High School and Cape Fear Community College. Now she is still in Wilmington to work and help the Chamber of Commerce to help kids  find new jobs and life choices.  

What we learned:

Jobs

The first job we learned about was the people who fix everything in the hotel. Also they control all the hot water and cold water and the air conditioner.The next person we talked to were the front house and back house, aka the kitchen vs the restaurant. We learned that the kitchen had a dishwasher, main chef, pastry chef, and in the restaurant they had servers and other workers. The third job we learned about was the front desk which included bell men, lobby managers, and front desk workers. The bell mens job is important because they are the first thing you see at the resort. The last people we talked to were the housekeeping workers. We got to see big rooms that are like suites then we say regular rooms and the suites were better obviously. I learned that there are many different jobs in the hospitality industry that I found very interesting!

Empathy     

One of today’s main focuses was empathy, Jodi Fletcher taught us about the difference between empathy and sympathy. He made the simile/metaphor that sympathy is like someone being in a hole and you stick your head down in that hole and say “Oh yeah, that sucks for you.” Whereas empathy is like putting a ladder down in that hole and being in the hole with someone and trying to understand how that person feels. He made us do a group exercise to help us work with empathy. We had to have 1 volunteer from each school to pretend they were a customer in need of customer service, and the rest of the students from our school table would have to be the customer service workers and try to have Empathy for the distressed customer. This taught us about how to use Empathy in action. I can use empathy to help me understand people‘s feelings and be a better person.