Students at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, will take over the day-to-day operations of the Statler Hotel on campus this weekend, April 3 to 5, and serve more than 200 of the hospitality industry's top executives.
For three days every April, the Statler Hotel becomes Hotel Ezra Cornell (HEC), named for the university's founder. During that time, students manage every facet of hotel operations, from room service and food preparation to housekeeping and concierge service. Students replace the professionals in every job.
"HEC is the reason we're all at the Hotel School," said senior Chris McFerran, an HEC function manager. "It's the reason we get so many opportunities before and after we leave. So much of that starts here at HEC. It's what the school's all about in terms of creativity. You can't do this in most schools."
The weekend enables students to put into practice what they have learned throughout their undergraduate careers in the Hotel School. In addition, the weekend puts them in close contact with industry leaders who get to see firsthand how the students operate in a hotel setting.
Throughout the weekend, students have planned an array of social and educational events. There are theme breakfasts, lunches and dinners, such as "Sunrise in the Amazon," "A Taste of Africa" and "Maxines," featuring French fare.
"I like having a lot of people being exposed to the great food and culture I'm coming from," said Ugandan native Elizabeth Ngonzi, a second-year student in the Master of Management in Hospitality program. "I'd like to be able to feed a lot of people and have fun, and to be able to put on my resume that I helped organize an event like this."
For intellectual nutrition, the weekend features panel discussions, such as one on the hospitality industry in the new millennium.
This year, there will be a demonstration in dessert making from Jacques Torres of Le Cirque in New York. The French-born Torres has designed specialty pastries for kings and queens and presidents at Le Cirque, where he reigns over a $100,000 custom-built pastry kitchen. An ice-carving demonstration by award-winning ice sculptor Scott Rella also is planned.
Students assume control over the hotel Friday at 5 p.m. when a ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opens Hotel Ezra Cornell. That's also when the hotel's keys are turned over to the students. But planning for this event, which this year is billed as "Illuminate the World," began last fall when students held taste-testing sessions in Statler Hall's kitchens.
Hotel Ezra Cornell began in 1925 as a way of demonstrating to the hospitality industry the importance of hotel administration as a formal field of study. The project so impressed E.M. Statler that he donated the money that built the Statler Hotel.
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