Hospitality students turn Kempenfelt Conference Centre into living lab

March 26, 2015

From Monday, March 30 to Thursday, April 2, a total of 130 Hospitality Management/Administration students take over Georgian’s Kempenfelt Conference Centre in Innisfil for an intense four-day training session.

All participants will live at the conference centre for the duration of the “hospitality boot camp”. Twenty third-year students will take the lead in supervising 110 first-year students in the basics of operating a conference centre. The first-year students will gain hands-on training in such hospitality-related skills as front desk services, housekeeping, sales and marketing, accounting, conference services, maintenance and engineering, food and beverage service and food preparation.

The third-year Hospitality Administration students will be evaluated on such management functions as planning, leading, organizing and evaluating the performance of the other students.

“This is a unique ‘live your learning’ opportunity for hospitality students,” said program co-ordinator Michael Agema. “All this takes place two weeks before they begin their summer work terms in placements throughout Canada, so this will give them all a strong foundation in how the industry works.”