Through WCCUSD’s Ivy League Connection program, Hercules High School Students Justine Betschart, Stacy Chan, Ramiah Davis-Shephard, Louisa Man, Julia Maniquiz, and Yueming Wang will be attending Cornell University to either study Freedom and Justice or Hotel Operations Management during the summer of 2009.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Ithaca's given me a surprise

I felt like today was one of the worst days I have ever had in my life. Nothing was going right. Well, I should say, nothing was going well once class ended at 3:30.

We did tons of work on Microsoft Word 2007 today and then began some work on Powerpoint 2007. Powerpoint 2007 is so extensive. There are many more features on 2007 that I would never been able to use on 2003. There were many more themes and set templates to be used on the slides. It was pretty impressive.

Mrs. McCarthy discussed how to take care of guests. Many of us contributed stories of experience with the hotel service. Some stories included previous lost and found events and how housekeeping deals with these types of situations. Mrs. McCarthy said one maid turned in a piece of undergarnment with $600 attached to it. I was surprised to hear this. There have not been many cases when hotel staff have been so incredibly honest. I hope all hotels run their business this way. It is most effective I know it will bring back guests.

The rest of the day, Yueming, Stacy, some other hotelies went to the Cornell Store. When we left the store, we passed by a garbage can and then a rattle in the garbage can scared us all to death. We screamed and completely freaked out and were paranoid about the animals on the campus the entire walk home.

While walking home, we met with the unfortunate Ithaca weather. Suddenly, a thundershower began and we weren't even half way home!! The raindrops in Ithaca are seriously the size of golfballs! All of us began to run in the rain all the way home. When we got back to the dorm, we were soaked from head to toe. I went straight to the shower and had myself a cool shower, since I was so red from running all the way home.

One more unfortunate event. I was locked out of my room after going to the shower. I forgot my keys in my room and my roommate left the room. I had to have the RA open the door for me and I had to pay the $5 lockout fee. This day was such a bummer. Now, I must finish my CHESS memo....

~Louisa

2 comments:

  1. Louisa,

    I'm almost afraid to keep your blog posting on my computer just in case some of your bad luck rubs off on me. I could tell you to just think of all of this as the inspiration for stories to tell in the future but I'm betting that won't make you feel any better right now. Sorry.

    I'm so sorry that this day will go down as one that truly sucked for you.

    I'm glad, though, that you're writing so much about how intensively your classes seem to revolve around the Office Suite. This is very useful information. I'm going to discuss this with Charles and Madeline so we can make sure that we start early next season and make sure that all of our cohorts have the software and training before they head east.

    We knew that the Yalies would need certain computer skills because they were clearly spelled out in the literature we received but the references in the Hotel Program's literature came very late in the game and was not nearly as specific.

    When we send you to these classes we want you to struggle with the finer details of the program rather than struggling over the basics. I'm not faulting any of you, Louisa. I use my computers all day and half the night and I have more books on operating the Office Suite than most libraries but I still have so much to learn. The problem is often that we never seem to make the time to get the training. You're being forced to get the training right now but we would have served you all so much more had we provided the training earlier--just as we had provided the textbooks earlier for the F&J kids and some of the others.

    I'm disappointed that you were charged that $5 lockout fee. Should you have had your keys with you when you left the room? Of course. Should your RA have given you a stern look of admonishment to make you feel guilty about inconveniencing her? Of course. Should your problems have been compounded by charging the $5? No way!

    You have just one more day of class this week and then you get to enjoy the East Coast for the weekend. This should be a good thing. Although Friday's weather is supposed to be similar to Thursday's, at least the weekend weather is supposed to be clear--maybe warm and humid but at least without golfball sized rain drops pelting you.

    By the way, did you ever figure out what was rattling in the garbage can? I can almost imagine the wonderful photo that you could have added to this post and how many parents would have been on planes tonight to rescue their little girls from the wilds of Ithaca.

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  2. Louisa, days like this help develop what is called CHARACTER. If everyday went well you would never know your ability to handle stress and trying times. I am glad that you shared your frustrations and inconveniences, sorry about being locked out of your dorm.

    Now however is the time to regroup, stay focused on your assignments, know that you have a strong support network and that everyone is pulling for you with your course.

    The one thing that I found interesting about your post is that you did not include the research you learned about crime in the Hotel Industry. I hope that in future conversations that you will assert your knowledge about things that we have discussed during the past few weeks.

    Saturday is right around the corner and with the visit to the University of Rochester it should be nice to get away and have some time with our other ILC students. Keep up the good work. We are proud of you and the rest of the ladies.

    Stay dry!

    Charles T. Ramsey, Esq.
    School Board Member
    West Contra Costa
    Unified School District

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