Management from a Teacher

We are three weeks into a new semester and I couldn't be more excited for one of my classes. I know that is very rare for students to actually like their classes, but their is about 100 to 200 people in this class and I am pretty sure everyone loves it. This class is not what you are thinking it is. It is not a blow-off elective. It is HTM 312 Hospitality Management in Human Resources. As a 300 level course I was expecting long boring lecture with mind numbing difficult exams. But on the first day everyone was pleasantly surprised. The secret to my professor's success is that he made sure we felt important. My professor, Dr.Lalopa, also taught us one interesting managing technique on the very first day. 

The first thing he the first day of class was stand on top of his desk. As you can see in the picture above we are in a very large lecture room. He then told us to sit on top of our desks. We did as we were told with excitement. It was a little exciting because I felt like we were being rebellions. Then he told us that we get to decide as a class what the structure of the class would be. We got to decide the syllabus. As students of course the first discussion was no exams and no final. When the professor said alright and told his teaching assistant to write that down, I was in shock. By the end of the day, the class had decided that the course would consist of.

As a student I can count on one hand the number of classes that I am actually excited to attend and this is one of them. But I am not writing this to brag about a really cool professor. I am writing this to discuss what he taught us from the very start of the class.

One really difficult job for a manager in the hospitality industry is to motivate employees. How do you get a person to come to work everyday to clean rooms for eight hours straight or to wash dishes in the back of a kitchen all evening? To do this yo must make them feel important remind them that their job matters. One of the best way to do that is to have your employees be involved in decision making.

In college, students skip class everyday and if they do show up to class they text or play games on there phones. They do the work take the tests and get by with decent grades hardly learning anything. By making us feel like we were involved in the planning and organizing of the course we are excited to go to class and to leaner the material. I wish that more professors were more like Dr. Lalopa. I think that the whole class will actually learn a the materials in this class. As a manager in the future I hope I look back on this class and remember this valuable lesson.

New Years Resolutions

Every January brings hope. The new year means a new beginning, and most people make a lot of plans to make changes. Whether it be to lose weight, be organized, volunteer, work harder, etc they often seem to lose motivation after a few months or so. I think this is mostly do to the fact that people are making wishes instead of goals. There is a method to making goals that are easy to achieve. This goals are called SMART goals. There are various of what this anagram stands for but I think this one is the most simple and clear.

Specific

If your goal is vague it will be difficult to achieve it. You need to be able to break your goal into smaller steps. You need to be able to include details like dates, resources, dollar amounts, etc that you need to accomplish your goal. Your goal should answer the following "which,what, where, who, when, why?". 

Measurable or Motivation

Your goal should be measurable by a date, time, dollar amount.  Having it be measurable also makes it easier to track your progress. By keeping measurements you can determine if you are going in the right direction and make adjustments along the way if necessary. Be able to ask yourself "How much, how many, how long"

I think another important thing to setting goals is keeping up motivation. Seeing results is a big motivator. Awards are also good for staying on track. Another good form of motivation is having friends that are trying to achieve the same things as you.  Without motivation you will easily lose track of the big picture and fade away from the goal. 

Achievable

You don't want to set yourself up for failure. You need to be able to develop a strategy of how you are going to achieve your goal. You don't need to know all the details at first, just start with a general plan. Focus on actions you can take that are in your direct control. 

Realistic 

The actions you need to take to achieve your goal are things that you can actually do and control. Your goals also need to be relevant to yourself. They need to be meaningful and significant, in order to make a difference in your life. 

Timely

This was touched on under measurement, but it is to important not to have it's own category. If you do not but a time limit on the goal you will mentally be able to push it aside and there fore never achieve it. 

My New Years Resolutions

I'll use one of my own resolutions as an example of how to set a SMART goal.

BAD :I want to lose weight.

GOOD: I want to lose 20 pounds in 4 months by counting calories and exercising at the gym 3 times a week. I will eat only 1200 calories a day and keep track of this on my iPhone with an app I downloaded. Every Tuesday I will weight myself and have a goal of losing between 1-2 pounds a week. I will also limit myself to 3 alcoholic drinks a night only 2 nights a week. These drinks most be under 150 calories each. (This is a large change since I turned 21 six months ago.)  If I make this goal I will reward myself with a at home spa day or a mini shopping spree. No food rewards! 

     

Eco-Friendly Weddings

Being aware of the impact we have on the environment is essential in todays business world. Every industry is doing their part to decrease the impact they have by recycling, reusing, and conserving. The restaurant industry does there part by getting food from local farmers, while the hotel industry conserves energy by asking costumers to reuse towels. Those are just two examples of ways the Hospitality and Tourism industry is going green.

I never thought that the wedding industry would also need to evaluate how they impact the environment. Mireya Navarro explains how weddings have done there part to become green. The article states that there is over 2 million weddings happening each year in America. No wonder it is so important for brides to consider simple ways to make there weddings eco-friendly. Some ways the article states to make a green wedding are the following:

• daytime wedding saves electricity 
• look at venues with energy efficiency, water conservation, etc.
• recycling paper for invitations or online invites. 
• registing for charitable gifts 
• buying a used dress online or reselling your new dress
• getting a carter that buys food locally 
• having a sit down meal instead of a buffet saves on waste and requires less plates and utensils
• charitable party favors 

Although some may believe that eco-freindly practices can be expensive many of these practices actually save money and are more constructive. I think that we all need to do our part to conserve the environment especially industry professionals, because they are the leaders in the professional world. I have attached the link to the article I have mentioned to the end on this post. Check it out!

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/w/weddings_and_engagements/green_weddings/index.html

ServSafe Certified!

      The semester has come to an end. The realization that my junior year of college is half way over is exciting and sad all at the same time. I think this semester went by so quickly because I was taking classes that I enjoyed. One of my classes was HTM 191 Sanitation and Health. In this class we learned how to make a restaurant safe for customers, along with learning the food codes and regulations. The class was challenging and very interesting. Within the couple of weeks we had to take a national exam over all the material we had gone over in class. If we did not pass this exam then we could not continue with Hospitality and Tourism Industry courses. I studied very hard and I was able to pass with flying colors. I am proud to say I am officially ServeSafe Certified! Here's the proof:

Wish Upon A Wedding Gala

Pictured here are my fellow Purdue Event Planning Society members. I am the second from the right. 

This past Monday I had the great opportunity of volunteering for the Wish Upon A Wedding Gala in Chicago. I went with the event-planning club I'm involved with on campus, Purdue Event Planning Society. Wish Upon the Wedding gives weddings and vowel renewal to couples facing terminal illness, serious life-altering circumstances, regardless of sexual orientation. 

The previous week the President of the Chicago Chapter Ali Philips came to Purdue to speak with our club. She told us about her job and what to expect as event planners. She was very inspirational and eye opening. As the President of the Chicago chapter and nationally the Vice president of the Wish Upon a Wedding, she also touch on the importance of philanthropy. I think that volunteering is very important. It is important to give back within the industry that gives to you. For event planners that industry involves weddings. I value giving back to the community greatly. I participate in several charities on campus and at home. 

The gala was not only a great volunteering opportunity, but it was also my first time setting up for an event. After setting up for the event the volunteers helped with the silent auction and the live auction. There was a large live band that played every song, a bar, and dinner. The event was fabulous! I realized that night why I wanted to do event planning. When I saw how much fun all the guests were having, I thought to myself I am part of the reason they are having such a great time. I helped make this night memorable for them. This is how I know I will enjoy being an event planner. I am planning on volunteering for the Wish Upon A Wedding Gala next year. 

Wish upon A Wedding Gala Chicago Website: http://wishuponawedding.org/chicago/

Getting Involved and Leadership Opportunities

Being involved on campus is very important for multiple reason. Some of those reasons include building your resume, networking, making friends, etc. I am involved within my sorority along with a couple of HTM clubs. I think volunteering is also very important.  I am currently involved in Delta Zeta Sorority, Purdue Event Planning Society, and Purdue Hospitality and Tourism Managemento Career Day Host/Hostess.

I joined my sorority mostly to make friends, but have come to realize it has given me a lot more. I have been able to be involved with in my sorority house in ways that could be beneficial to a future career in the Hospitality Industry. A few skills I have from being in a sorority is time management and team work. Within the house I apart of the Food and Beverage Committee, Programming Committee, and Founders Committee. As a part of the Food and Beverage Committee I help plan the menu for special and formal events. As a member of the Programming Committee I help plan simple and formal events such events include parents day, academic dinner, recruitment events, guest speakers, etc. By being on the founders committee I plan the founders day events and keep connections with alumni. I am in the pursuit of being the head of one or more of these committees in the next year. Along with those committees I am also very involved in local and nation philanthropies. These include raising money for the Painted Turtle Camp, Starkey Hearing Foundation, and the West Lafayette Hannah Center.

This semester is my first semester being involved with the Purdue Event Planning Society. I applied to be on the executive board and starting next semester I will be the secretary. I wanted to join a HTM club, and thought that the event planning club sounded like the most fun. I figured the club involved party planning, looking at pretty pictures of weddings, gossiping with girls, etc, so why wouldn't I want to join. Surprisingly, I have found it is much more then that. The club does help with campus party planning, but it also has a lot of great guest speakers and is an opportunity to volunteer. This semester we have; helped plan the Rotary Club Halloween Party, had Ali Phillips as a guest speaker, and volunteered at the Wish Upon a Wedding Gala in Chicago.

I have been a hostess for the Hospitality and Tourism Management Career Day for two years. By being a hostess I am able to connect better with the companies that come to our career day. My job is to help set up and escort the company for the day. I also get the opportunity to go a lunch with all the companies that only career day hosts/hostesses are invited to.

My Journey to Being an HTM Student

 I am a junior at Purdue University that is pursuing a degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management. I was not always a HTM student. I have tired a few different career paths in the past years.

When I was seven up to my first year of high school I wanted to go to Purdue to study veterinary science. Once I hit high school I realized I was completely terrible at science, and that it takes more then a love for animals to get you through vet school. This was the beginning of me changing potential career paths as often as you change your clothes.

My senior year of high school I did a teaching internship and an internship at my local hospital in hope of finding my path. The hospital internship involved me rotating around different departments within the hospital. Most of the departments were boring. The only fun department was surgeries, but becoming a surgeon would take a lot more biology classes then becoming a veterinarian. Next was the teaching internship. I thought the teaching internship was a lot of fun mostly because I interned with an art teacher. I love to paint and work with digital design. That is when I decided I was going to go to school to become an art teacher.

During my freshman year of college I found that I didn't like the part teaching as much as I liked the art part of being an art teacher. This was due to the fact that I didn't want to talk to kids all day long. Don't get me wrong, I love kids but I just like talking to people my own age a lot more. With this decision made I switched my major to Visual Communications and Design also known as Graphic Design. I was head over heels in love with this decision.

During the summer before my sophomore year of college, I was a full time waitress at a bar and grill in New Buffalo, MI. New Buffalo is a prime vacation town for Chicago people and I made bank! Not only was I making good money I also loved my job. I loved waitressing! (Says no one ever... except me) I loved the high intensity of the job and the opportunity to meet new people everyday. I am a very sociable and personable person so it made sense that I loved this job.

When I went back to school, I thought to myself if I graduate and become a graphic designer my interaction with people is going to be minimal. That thought is the reason I am a Hospitality and Tourism Management student today.

This is first semester in the HTM program. I know this career path is the right fit. The students and professors within this program are very similar like me. I hope that my love and background in art and design will be beneficial during my career path. I made this blog to reflect on my experiences through out my hospitality and tourism management student career.