RIT Hospitality Students to Serve, Learn and Educate at Sailing Championships

Freshmen in Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Hospitality and Service Management aren’t getting much time before facing their first test—even if it is one taking place at a yacht club instead of a classroom. Just one week into classes, the students are teaming with the Rochester Yacht Club to organize a week’s worth of events surrounding the Disabled Sailing World Championships.

The students, all members of professor Rick Lagiewski’s Survey of Service Management class, will be involved in events throughout the entire competition—but their big day comes Sept. 11. The students will be helping to put on a dinner for a group that includes 170 disabled sailors, event officials and Chinese Olympic organizers who are preparing for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Following dinner, they will be teaming with RIT professor Lorraine Hems to facilitate a wine tasting, educating their guest about various New York state wines.

“The great thing about this is that we’re able to get our students connected to the hospitality field right away,” says Lagiewski. “They’re going to be taking skills they already had, and skills they just learned and applying them right away.”

Hems believes that the event is not only a great opportunity for RIT students, but for local wineries as well.

“Wineries from all over the state will be represented,” she says. “It’s a great way to expose people from around the world to our great local wines.”

The wine tasting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., Sept. 11 at the Rochester Yacht Club.