Hopewell High imparts social skills to students
Published:Monday | November 7, 2022 | 12:07 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
EXCITEMENT REIGNED among students and teachers at Hopewell High School in Hanover on Thursday, as an innovative programme aimed at teaching all the students of that institution the finer points of formal dining kicked off with the grade-seven cohort given the experience.
A special room at the school, dubbed the 50-cent room because of its shape, was decorated and set in the fashion of a formal restaurant dining room, with senior students of the school dressed as, and acting as the servers, while the grade-seven students played the part of formally dressed patrons.
Principal Byron Grant told The Gleaner that the idea began as a project proposal from grade-seven coordinator, Sophia Manning, which was approved by the board of governors, who decided to involve the whole school.
“We tend to have some behavioural issues at the school and we see it (the project) as a way through which we can teach these students how to properly socialise and how to be respectful to themselves and to others,” he said.
“Many of them do not know the art of fine dining, and when we teach them here the intricacies of how to fine dine, this they can take out into the wider world,” he noted.
He added that teaching the students how to properly dine, and mix and mingle is a very important tool that will assist them in developing greater self-esteem.
“Every week we will be having one dinner which is fully sponsored by the school for a different grade of students,” he stated, adding that parents are fully behind the project, and are even assisting in its implementation.
The project, he continued, will have a dual effect as senior students engaged in hospitality training at the school will be utilised as the servers at the respective dinners each week, which will provide practical training.
“We will use this occasion to teach them from here how to do the serving. A grade will be assigned to them as their teachers will be present, so it will be a form of practical training for them,” he emphasised.
He added that this training, in addition to their two-week work experience across the hotel industry, will make the hospitality students more equipped for employment in the hospitality industry.
“All the students have been very excited to participate in this project,” he stated, “I have to be answering questions daily wherein I have to explain that each grade will soon get their experience,” he said, noting that both students and parents have shown great appreciation and interest in the project.
Meanwhile, chairman of the school board, Dalton Hastings, described the project in an interview with The Gleaner as ‘wonderful’.
“Education is not all about academics, you can have a student who is very bright and because they are not able to socialise, they don’t know the basic in terms of etiquette. It can diminish their confidence when they go out into the working world,” he argued.
He said that it is the focus and intention of the Hopewell High family to assist students in building character, confidence, discipline and establishing a proper dress code, to make them into a better person.