By that time, the first graduates of Hopewell’s four-year Academy of Hospitality and Travel and Tourism will have completed the program and earned the accompanying certifications.
Hopewell has been selected as a National Academy Foundation site beginning with the2011-2012 school year, when Hopewell will offer a concentrated block of travel, tourism and hospitality courses.
“We are eager to offer our students this opportunity and educate them on the tourism industry and what it means to really have excellent customer service,” says Julie Gayheart, a hospitality teacher at Hopewell as well as the instructional coordinator and site director for the new academy.
Freshmen and sophomores in the program will take existing hospitality and marketing courses before applying to the academy as juniors. Certifications as juniors and seniors will open students to on-the-job training.
Beginning with their junior year, students must complete 200 intern hours per school year at venues including Bank of America Stadium, Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Time Warner Cable Arena, and hotels and restaurants in the area.
About 120 students have already enrolled in the program, and Gayheart expects the program to be full by the time the first class starts.
Each class will have a presentation day on which students will wear a uniform and be graded on how well they deal with a situation presented to them. Some situations could be how to deal with an unhappy customer or how to prepare a certain entrée.
Myra Spitzhoff and Dr. Keith Goins, Career Technical Education teachers at Hopewell, will be teachers in the new program, and Anne Conner will serve as student recruiter and counselor.
All three teachers have had experience working in the hospitality industry. Gayheart, Spitzhoff and Goins came together to help establish the program because they wanted to help bring back quality customer service and apprenticeship in the community. They wanted students to gain the knowledge they need to graduate with the opportunity to apply for a full-time job.
The academy was given a $2,000 grant from the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association to help pay for books. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has fully supported the academy but, due to funding limitations, needs help through partnerships to pay for uniforms andother needs.
The students will have an opportunity to compete in FCCLA and DECA competition to help further their experience with customer service and culinary curriculum.
Teachers will attend a conference in San Francisco in July to discuss final curriculum.
