To teach students the aspects of planning a trip to another country, Hospitality and Tourism teacher Catherine Viggato assigned sophomores their first project of the school year.

“I learned new things about the [different lifestyles] that I wanted more present in my life,” sophomore Jaylin DeGuzman said. “The customs, food and history of England interested me. I would love to be able to go to travel abroad and go there one day.”

Students picked their own groups, but could only have a maximum of three members. To practice real-life situations involving international travel, each group member had to agree on a culture to present.

“When I watch students present, I pick out their strengths and weaknesses,” Viggato said. “In the future, I make sure that those areas get improved upon. My expectations after this project are that students can start to understand Hospitality more.”

Presentations are required to include social, artistic and environmental aspects of their chosen culture. Students have the option of creating a multi-media presentation, bring an artifact such as food or clothing.

“This project is helping us in the Culinary program as well because we have to learn both the insides and outs of the industry,” sophomore Justine Belen said. “Front of the house in Culinary includes aspects in Hospitality too with [greeting others while serving food and being a host]. Especially if you want to go into the Hospitality industry later on, we already know the basics.”

Once presentations are completed, the class will work on another project that involves traveling on a budget.

“[We’ll be doing] another travel project, but with a specific budget of $25,000,”  Viggato said. “Students have to create a round trip and be more specific about what events will be happening. There will be assigned chapters and bookwork as well to fully understand what to present.”

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