Every ending is a new beginning

Ithaca is gorges! Hotelies are definitely gorges!

After a lightning-paced three weeks in up-state New York, I can proudly call myself a Summer Cornelian at last. I survived!

Truthfully, it was more than just surviving the summer program, I would like to call it "thriving". While we engaged in interesting hospitality lectures with Professor Reneta McCarthy and invigorating computer-related lessons with Professor Mark McCarthy, we also developed numerous life skills that will benefit us in the future. Therefore, merely calling this an exciting three weeks at Cornell would be a huge understatement. Although this may sound cliche or even vague, it does truly represent my take on this adventure: it is a once in a lifetime experience!

When I first heard about the Hotel Operations Management: Tactics in Profitability program, I didn't know exactly what to think of it. This was mainly due to the fact that I had no knowledge about the way the industry operated besides the fact of staying at a hotel once in a while. Now that I know how interesting the hotel industry is, I am glad I had gone with my guts and applied.

Throughout the course, we had various lectures and discussions regarding different types of hotels, various customer segments, demands of specific customer segments, way of catering to those demands, and achieving customer satisfaction/loyalty while still minimizing expenses and maximizing profits. Sounds like a mouthful, right?

Simply covering ground of an actual fifteen-week college course in three short weeks is an achievement, but I must credit our professors. Without Reneta and Mark and their engaging methods of teaching, I would not have learned nearly as much about any subject in fifteen days (weekends excluded). Their way of breaking down excessive amounts of information into easily understandable chunks permitted me to attain a lot of information about hotels, hospitality, and business in general. And to prove what I have learned in the past three weeks, each group wrote a financial report to analyze data from our CHESS game -- a virtual hotel simulation that enables you to operate a 250-room hotel. Here I have included a link to my group's financial report for the Le Petit Papillion hotel.

This summer college experience isn't all about acquiring knowledge pertaining to hotels (though it is a major portion of it), I also learned a lot about myself as an individual. Sure there were times when I couldn't get along with other students, times when I wanted to go home, times when I wanted to cry, but most importantly, I found a way to overcome those moments and be like myself. This shows me that I have enough strength to conquer what I set my eyes on conquering.

I must also credit a big part of my positive experience to my warm, kind, helpful new acquaintances, especially my roommate and my group mates. Although we had different opinions about certain things, the fact that we all walked away from our differences and tried to engage in similarities only made us bond together even more. Additionally, having the opportunity to resolve conflicts and to work through the ups and downs built our characters. We may all be different, but when gathered with a group of people who strive to achieve the same goals, usually the results are good. In our case, the results couldn't have been better.

Despite my initial impressions of Cornell University -- distant and isolated -- I have grown to fall in love with the college. I can now confidently say that I DO want to apply to this university for my post-high school education. At this point, I am not sure I will apply to the School of Hotel Administration but I do know that I would apply within the business or arts and science field.

Without the Ivy League Connections, I would have never had the opportunity to stay at an Ivy League college for three weeks. This is what I consider the best way to get to know a college. Take myself as an example, had I not had this three-week exposure to Cornell, I would most likely not apply to an expensive Ivy due to my first impressions. As the days passed, my first impressions proved to be more and more unreasonable as I found myself more and more attached to the school. Granted if I have a chance in the future, I would like to visit some more colleges before I decide which colleges I should apply to. I will need to decide which college is better fitted for me based on a campus tour which is clearly not the best way to learn about a college.

I can go on and on about my wonderful time at Cornell but if I were to sum it all up in one sentence, I would say that it definitely ranks amongst my best experiences!

I would like to thank every sponsor for caring enough to help make an incredible experience possible for students like me! Also, I would like to thank Mr. Ramsey, Ms. Knonenburg, Mr. Gosney, and Mr. Crossley for putting in so much of their time, effort, energy, and everything else they have given up just so we can do what we did! I am very grateful for having this opportunity and I cannot stress that point enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I agree with the proverb "Every ending is a new beginning" and I find that it is also another great way to sum up my take on this program. Being more aware of the level of student competition, getting a taste of college life, learning a load of useful information, and discovering more about myself are amongst the things I will take back home. Even though I am sad about the end of a great summer experience, I hope to apply my knowledge in helpful ways for both myself and the people around me. I feel so blessed that I will have another opportunity to do this next summer and I am already looking forward to that! Therefore, this ending isn't really an ending, it is in fact a growing experience that I have already come to appreciate.

Now I will go and soak up the last bit of fun before our departure!

So long,

-Yueming W.