The document discusses best practices for hospitality and tourism programs, including establishing partnerships with local businesses and organizations. It emphasizes the importance of collaboration, ongoing relationships, listening to stakeholders, learning industry trends, and providing work-based learning opportunities like internships. Several partnerships that the school has formed are described, including with a culinary school, hotel, summer camp, and technical college. Student testimonials also discuss the benefits they have gained from the program.

1. “Best Practices in
Hospitality/Tourism”
Ms. Tywanda Mathis
Sims Academy of Innovation and Technology
tywanda.mathis@barrow.k12.ga.us

2. Hospitality, Recreation, and Tourism
1. Marketing Principles
2. Hospitality, Recreation and Tourism Essentials
a. Introduction to industry
b. Students prep restaurant
c. Guest speakers from industry and institutions
3. Hospitality, Recreation and Tourism Management
a. Management of Industry
b. Students operate restaurant

3. Collaboration
The action of working with someone to produce or create something

4. Connect
❖School Based Enterprises within your institution
❖Business and Industry within your county and region
❖Local chamber

5. Ongoing
❖Always thrive for ongoing relationships
❖Key to the success of your program
➢ Current Relationships
■ Sims Academy Culinary
■ Chateau Elan
■ The Carl House
■ Camp Twin Lakes
■ Lanier Technical College-Winder, GA Campus

6. Listen
❖Stakeholders
❖Business Members
❖Students

7. Learn
❖Go beyond the textbook and learn what is really going on
➢ Industry trends
➢ Student interest
➢ Visiting industry sites
➢ Visiting secondary institutions

8. Alliance
This alliance (Chateau Elan) provides SIMS students with a very practical
approach to not only a job but also to a career. For students who may not be
looking to attend college for any one of a variety of reasons, this alliance provides
them with alternative work in which they can flourish and begin an actual career.
Laura Kriteman /In-House Counsel, Director of Human Resources
(p) 678-425-6092
Château Élan Winery & Resort | 100 Rue Charlemagne, Braselton GA 30517

9. My name is Jemini and I completed the Hospitality Pathway
this past spring. Back in May Mrs. Summers helped me apply
for an internship at Chateau Elan. I now currently work at
Chateau Elan as a Full Time Intern over the summer. Once
school starts I will be a part time inter. I do room service
operations, restaurant host, and front desk operations. Being
in the HRT classes has taught me a lot. Working in the school
restaurant gave me experience to deal with the fancy people
at Chateau Elan!
Jemini Bonnet
Hospitality Student and Intern
Carol Summers
YAP/Dual Enrollment Coordinator

10. Believe
❖In your associates (students)
➢ They are the key to the success of your program and community growth
➢ Students create a advertising campaign (for midterm or DECA event)
➢ Student write book reviews

11. Occupation
❖As CTAE instructors we are preparing our associates(students) for
occupations post high school
➢ The Tourism industry in Georgia is the 5th largest employer in the state
➢ Total economic impact of $53.6 billion
➢ Supports more than 411,000 jobs, or 10.2% of all payroll employment in Georgia
■ http://www.georgia.org/industries/georgia-tourism/industry-research/
❖Goal is for 80% of pathway completers to obtain an internship for senior year

12. Respect
Beginning in the fall of 2015, Chateau Elan Winery and Resort established its relationship with SIMS Academy in an effort
to expose students to a real-life experience in a four-star hospitality setting. SIMS students who had completed a minimum
of three semesters in a Culinary pathway or a Tourism/Hospitality pathway were eligible to apply for part-time positions at
Chateau Elan during the school year, and for full-time positions during the summer months and upon graduation.
With respect to the Tourism/Hospitality pathway, Chateau Elan strives to place the SIMS students in front-of-house
positions, those being positions with direct interaction with guests. Chateau Elan has successfully employed students as
Restaurant Expediters and Room Service agents. A restaurant expediter is the liaison between the kitchen and the dining
room. This expediter ensures that all plates and dishes are accurate and appear to Chateau Elan standards, assists
servers with taking orders, serving plates, and ensuring that water and bread is on tables, and overall making a positive
impression for the guests. It is the perfect entry-level restaurant position that allows the student to understand the
interaction between kitchen and restaurant. The room service agent has responsibilities ranging from taking orders over the
phone, to delivering room service orders that are accurate and timely, to delivering amenities to all rooms. Again, this is a
front-of-house position that demands proper guest service skills.
Laura Kriteman /In-House Counsel, Director of Human Resources

13. Accommodations
❖ As CTI Coordinator at SIms Academy and former CTAE
Instructor in both Marketing and Business Education, it is my
job to:
➢ Provide support services to students with disabilities enrolled in a Career, Technical
and Agricultural
➢ Enable students to acquire entry-level job skills through a CTAE education plan.
➢ Coordinate student's course of study with short and long-range career goals through an
Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
➢ Participate in the development of the transition section of an IEP
➢ Provide Work Based Learning experience
❖ By working with the HRT program these students gain training
and are able to transitions into positions with partnering firms CTI Coordinator
Miranda Harris, Instructor
678-219-3335

14. By collaborating with local high schools to recruit students for our summer positions, we
know that students are actively being prepared and developing skills that we are looking
for in our various departments. Summer camp positions are seasonal, so it is extremely
valuable to hire students that can come in with skills they have acquired through their
program in school.
At Camp Twin Lakes, we say that leadership is in our DNA. Through their work at Camp
Twin Lakes, we hope that we are exposing young people to special needs populations,
broadening their horizons, and making them more aware as they enter the world. Larkin
Kelly, Camp Twin Lakes’ Dietary Coordinator started working at camp as a teenager.
“Camp was a safe space to develop my leadership skills and gave me an opportunity to
work in a “supervisory” position of my peers which gave me a huge leg up in my positions
after high school. I left camp with a clear understanding of food safety and sanitation
which prepared me for work in the restaurant industry during college.”
Camp is a FUN place to work, and we hope that we are going to attract more Sims
Academy students to come a back later in life to volunteer or work in a field where they
are serving others.
Ashley Henderson, Volunteer Coordinator
Camp Twin Lakes

15. Training
❖Safety first
➢ Safety test is required of all CTAE classes and school based enterprises
➢ First 2 weeks of each semester and ongoing
❖Customer care
➢ Online reservations
➢ On the job site

16. Operations
❖An active process
➢ Pros
■ Associates Prep and run SBE
■ Gain on the job training
■ Establish a resume
■ Prepared for entry level position and internship
➢ Cons
■ Students move

17. As an upcoming Senior and having worked at Sims Academy's, Simsations,
Common Ground, and The Shoppe. I am proof that the opportunities available
through the Marketing and Hospitality pathways are not only beneficial
educationally, but also for personal behavior. Since my experience in the
hospitality based atmosphere, I have improved my abilities to communicate,
expand my creativity, and have advanced my habits to be more professional.
Learning hospitality through hands-on activities has opened new doors to the
future I hope to pursue. The variety of careers available in the Hospitality and
Marketing areas are limitless and I am proud to say I have taken advantage of
my opportunity to learn them. Working as a hostess, cashier, and waitress in
Simsations taught me to keep a professional mindset and always please the
customer. The Common Ground improved my ability to listen and react to a
variety of different opinions and requests.
Sara Gilmore
11th Grade
Sims Academy, Associate

18. New
❖Always be open to new ideas and concepts
❖Remember the pineapple