I still have great memories of a very fun project in our service concepts class during our semester in Shanghai (almost 2 years ago already, but it feels like yesterday!). For our final project we had the opportunity to organize a charity dinner along with the kitchen semester students. Our class was divided into three groups of five. Each group was assigned a different date to hold the event, and we could also choose a specific theme.
We, the service students and “managers” of the dinner, were in charge of running the whole event, as well as coordinating with the kitchen students in order to choose a theme and menu that would be served. The theme we chose was “Casino Night.” We decorated the restaurant in a black and red color scheme, and we used playing cards for decoration. It was very interesting as we had to think about every detail of the event: welcoming the guests, the dining experience, decorations, the atmosphere and anything else you can imagine that goes into planning a themed dinner!
We also had students from other batches help us with the service, and we even asked one student, who is a very talented singer, if she could sing at the beginning of the dinner. This project took a long time to complete as many details were involved, but we learned so much! We had to go through details such as choosing the soundtrack, deciding our own uniforms and so on. Having to work in a team in order to organize a small event definitely has its challenges; different people have different tastes and opinions, and this led us to one of the most important lessons: the value of teamwork.
After many weeks and preparation and long hours getting ready for our big project, we sold all the tickets, and the money gathered was donated to a local charity. On the night of the dinner everything went as planned! All our guests were welcomed with a cocktail and by our lovely singer. We had a jazz lounge atmosphere with some nice music to go along with it, and the food we served was great! The result was very satisfying to see after we put so much effort into it. I have to emphasize that this is one of the many positive aspects of Les Roches: our education is very practical and hands-on.
Here is a picture of my group and me after we completed our event!
