Exploring

As I was reflecting on our stay at Cornell, I came to the realization that we, at least Hotelies, have not actually explored the beautiful campus. Besides the normal route we take to go to the Statler for class, we have not walked across any other part of the campus. After I expressed my interest in visiting some of the campus museums and libraries, I was very happy to see that Stacy and Louisa supported the idea. Therefore, we set out on our first exploration today -- the Olin Library and the Uris Library.

Although Olin clearly had a more modern look while the part of the Uris library that we visited resembled ones in the Harry Potter movie, both were interesting. Since we went during our afternoon break, we didn't get to spend a lot of time there (I think i can spend an entire day there without getting tired of the books!) we did take many photo snapshots for memory.

* Walking towards the entrance of the Olin Library

* Inside the library. I believe this is the staff area -- shows how modern the library is.

* Snapping a shot of the entrance of the Uris Library.

* Stacy exploring the first level of the library modeled after the library from Harry Potter.

*Louisa sitting at a desk. Many students sit in desks like these in the library to study.

In terms of class, we had a fairly light day. Today's curriculum was centered around being of service, which is what hospitality is all about. We discussed what we thought being of service meant and what kind of qualities a person would have if he likes to serve. This tied directly into what kind of traits would an employer look for in an employee. After coming up with a long list of agreeable characteristics (I believe we had around 70), the professors asked everyone to think about what characteristics they thought were most important to the industry and what is a way to test if a person possesses those characteristics.

I believe amiable qualities such as being passionate, up-lifting, friendly, loyal, etc. are needed in this line of work, but also characteristics like being efficient, organized, punctual, responsible, and observant are important. Even though I still have to figure out what exactly I will do to measure these qualities, I do know that written tests and even conversations cannot shine enough light in these areas. I will need to observe their everyday behaviors in order to find out if they have a true being-of-service mindset.

In addition to our engaging morning discussion, we had a guest speaker in the afternoon. Ms. Heather Fortenberry from the Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration Admissions dedicated 2 hours of her time to talk to us about the strong undergraduate hotel program as well as the general application process. We all learned intersting facts about the School of Hotel Administration like that 800 work hours related to hotel and hospitality is required for graduation. Additionally, we also learned about the process of applying to Cornell such as the fact that students must apply to a specific school (primary application) and also an alternative school (secondary application) out of the seven schools offered for undergraduate studies.

I can see how all of the Exploring Educational Excellence college presentations have benefited us. I remember some of the general college application facts when Ms. Fortenberry was answering questions. By actively participating in events like these, our district is really gaining a lot of knowledge and exposure that some of the students at summer college never had before. These informational sessions are important!

In terms of group work for our final project, I am very happy that my group members do no procrastinate. We plan on finishing everything by Thursday so that we can have the entire Friday morning for minor revisions. So far, we have come up with a successful business plan. Before going to bed last night, we gathered briefly for a discussion about what kind of expenses we will spend. All three of us had different ideas so we decided to spend tonight's office hours to run our own trials and see who could come up with a hotel that made an average of $70,000 profit per week.

I was extremely happy to find out that my revised plan worked and I was able to make more money than the required. Although my group mates' hotels were not able to make the cut, we all felt comfortable that one of us made it without really combining each other strategies. We will spend tomorrow analyzing the statistics and combining our successful strategies to maximize our profits. I have a feeling that it will all work out. Yay!

Another great day has gone by. Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring us!

~Yueming W.