Creating a Memorable Experience

On this episode of the Tech Times Podcast we chat with Hospitality and Tourism Management instructor Lacy Shaw and one of her students about the skills students develop in the program. Plus hear some of the incredible job opportunities.

Transcript

Announcer: [00:00:00] From Tulsa Tech, helping you make your own path with insights and information about the world of career training, the Tech Times Podcast starts right now.

Ryan (Host): Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Tech Times podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Williams. When you go to an event. How often do you comment to friends about the food, the decor, the atmosphere, or maybe even something about your hotel? Stay? Students in our hospitality and tourism management program learn what it takes to make sure your stay or your event is top notch on top of that.

Ryan (Host): A whole host of other skills that it takes to run a successful business. Joining us today to chat a little more about that is Instructor Lacey Shaw. Lacey, welcome to the podcast. 

Lacy Shaw: Thank you for having me. 

Ryan (Host): So let's jump right into the program itself. This program is a little bit details here, but program is six months all day for adults, or one school [00:01:00] year for both high school and adults.

Lacy Shaw: That's correct. 

Ryan (Host): Can you share a little, generally about. What this program is teaching and the skills students learn while they're here? 

Lacy Shaw: Absolutely. It is super amazing for my students to learn everything there is to know about hotels, restaurants, tourism, and everything in between. The ways to get there, the rental cars, the airplanes, the cruise ships.

Lacy Shaw: And we learned some valuable. Physical skills like making the bed or making that espresso drink, or maybe we're learning how to serve at a restaurant or be a host or even answer the phone. We learn all of those hard skills, but then that third word in my program name is management. So I challenge my students to also, once we learn that skill to.

Lacy Shaw: Ask how a manager would teach that to their team, how they would be an effective leader, how they would be a good teammate even. 

Ryan (Host): For listeners who may not know, it's a broad term, but what kinds of careers [00:02:00] fall under hospitality and tourism? 

Lacy Shaw: Oh my so many. It is literally hundreds of opportunities for hospitality.

Lacy Shaw: There's a restaurant. Front and back of House of Restaurant. There's hotels, there's cruise ship directors and everybody involved in that. There are banquets and events and then everything that you could think of between the traveling to get to a destination, but we think on a global scale. But right here in Oklahoma, we have a thriving hospitality.

Lacy Shaw: Culture and it is the third largest industry in this state. So think about the thousands of workers that are frontline employees that are. Taking your money at the cash register that are bringing your meal, that are cooking your meal. All of those people and those jobs are also a local opportunity as well.

Lacy Shaw: And in here in Oklahoma, it is a big industry. 

Ryan (Host): [00:03:00] What are some of the skills, basic skills that students need to run a successful event or be part of a hotel staff? 

Lacy Shaw: The number one skill is interpersonal skills. 

Lacy Shaw: You need to be able to speak. And welcome and make people feel welcome and that skill is not easily taught.

Lacy Shaw: That is something that is that I would say. It transcends many industries, not just hospitality. Sure. So it's useful anywhere, but especially for hospitality. You need to be able, if you can have that interpersonal, that one-on-one connection with a guest, you can almost guarantee you'll be successful because hard skills can be taught.

Ryan (Host): And I think those customer service approaches for any company you work for is really gonna be valuable. Absolutely. As an employee. 

Lacy Shaw: Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. If you can, reach that person on a personal level, reach that guest at, on a personal level you're [00:04:00] almost guaranteed that customer for life, even if you're solving a problem or a mess up that you made.

Lacy Shaw: In fact, some of your best customers are the ones that you fixed a problem for them. Showing students their potential in those interpersonal relationships among their team and among their guests is one of my primary focuses in this program. 

Ryan (Host): How do you do that? Because most of the teenagers we see around town are.

Ryan (Host): Staring at their phones. Not even having real conversations Absolutely. At restaurants. Absolutely. Absolutely. How do you bring that out, that interpersonal skill out? 

Lacy Shaw: It's a challenge, but it is a fun one because I make them do some crazy things. I put them in uncomfortable situations and make them practice among their peers.

Lacy Shaw: This is a nice, safe place to make fools of ourselves, is what I say very often. It's 

Ryan (Host): better to learn it here than it would be out

Lacy Shaw: in front of a guest with an 

Ryan (Host): actual 

Lacy Shaw: customer. So when we practice on the phone, when we practice answering the phone for the hotel front desk, for example, I actually ring the phone and I [00:05:00] have a student on the other side of a curtain speaking to them, and they go through that uncomfortable.

Lacy Shaw: How do I talk on the phone or. If it's a ho checking in a guest for a hotel, they go through that uncomfortable, I don't know what to say, or it's not natural with somebody in front of them. And then we critique each other a little bit. What did they do well? What could they do better and help each other get a little bit better.

Ryan (Host): What traits do you think helps someone be successful in this industry? 

Lacy Shaw: Your being willing to try new things is. One of the skills that is hard to teach as well, but it's something that my students need to be willing to do, get uncomfortable, be willing to try something new, be teachable. That's one skill that I would say that would help you be successful in this industry.

Lacy Shaw: And it doesn't matter if you don't know how. The first time. If you're being, if you're willing to learn, then you can be very successful in this industry and you can learn so much because the number of years of experience in the building that you're serving [00:06:00] food in, that's all at your disposal to learn from them and get to know your peers in that restaurant or in that hotel.

Ryan (Host): What's something about the industry that maybe surprises students when they first start learning about it? 

Lacy Shaw: We work when everyone else is off. So if you think about it true, the. Teachers. The bankers, the nine to fivers, they're getting off work and they're headed to their favorite restaurant to eat for dinner, or they're traveling when it's spring break.

Lacy Shaw: A lot of people are about to go to spring break and they're gonna be traveling. All of those peak times that are busy for the hospitality industry, we're working when everyone else is off. So the hours are long. The hours can be hard but it can be very rewarding. 

Ryan (Host): Are there any certifications students can earn?

Lacy Shaw: Yes. In this program there are five potential certifications you can earn. 

Ryan (Host): Cool. What kinds? 

Lacy Shaw: And the first two come from Serve Safe. [00:07:00] Serve safe Alcohol. For my students that are 18 and older, and for my adult students, they can, earn their serve safe alcohol and then take that alcohol certification to the ABLE Commission here in Oklahoma and get their able license to serve alcohol.

Lacy Shaw: That means you're safely serving alcohol for a restaurant or a food operation. The next one is the Serve Safe Food Protection Manager. We were sitting here with the book on the desk right in front of us. We are in the midst of that right now and. That is one that I am pro. I am certified to instruct and proctor this exam.

Lacy Shaw: It is a massive exam, but a CSafe food manager is that food protection manager. Certification is required in every single food operation in this country. Thankfully, yes, thankfully, you have to have someone on your staff that can train and hold accountable [00:08:00] your food operation people, the people that are serving your food.

Lacy Shaw: So in order to. Maybe potentially become a supervisor or manager in their restaurants that they're currently working as a server in maybe. So I have a lot of student, a lot of my students are working in restaurants. Once they get this ServSafe Manager certification, they can take it to the Tulsa Health Department and get their Tulsa Health Department manager's license.

Lacy Shaw: And that saves first of all, that is a massive test. It is not easy to pass, and I'm thankful to say that this. This is a test that we have at the Owasso campus for both us and the culinary programs. We have high passing rates because this is one of those, once you get it on your resume, it's immediate.

Lacy Shaw: That can be an immediate promotion to a supervisor or managerial role just because you have that license. 

Ryan (Host): Yeah, I was gonna say, maybe that's an opportunity that you wouldn't get at an entry level position. 

Lacy Shaw: Huge if 

Ryan (Host): you don't have that 

Lacy Shaw: certification. [00:09:00] Correct. You really can't be that food ma, food protection manager in a restaurant or food operation without that certification.

Lacy Shaw: The third one, the third certification you can get in this program is something called guest service gold. It is by the American Hotel and Lodging Association. 

Ryan (Host): So yet another leg up for our students Absolutely. As they graduate. Absolutely. And potentially, a pay increase Absolutely.

Ryan (Host): With that certification, right? 

Lacy Shaw: Yes. Very cool. Absolutely. And then the last two hospitality specialist is the test you take upon completion of the curriculum for this program. It is by the American Hotel and Lodging Education Institute. 

Ryan (Host): Boy, that's a

Lacy Shaw: long name. That certification is.

Lacy Shaw: Proving that you not only completed this course, but you are an expert at being a hospitality and tourism manager. 

Ryan (Host): Okay? 

Lacy Shaw: Another nice neon sign on your resume that says, I'm capable. I've gone through the training of being a [00:10:00] hospitality manager, whatever. Part of the hospitality industry you choose to be in.

Lacy Shaw: I'm seeking that managerial supervisory role. And then the final certifications, which Tulsa Tech loves to give everyone but is great for our high school students who have to have it for graduation is for CPR.

Ryan (Host): I would hate to be surprised in any situation like that. Like emergency type 

Lacy Shaw: thing.

Lacy Shaw: And not know what to do. 

Ryan (Host): Exactly. 

Lacy Shaw: Yes. So it definitely prepares our students. The five certifications that we offer in this program prepares our students for success in the future. And ho and. I don't know, a single a single student that wouldn't benefit from any of those certifications. 

Ryan (Host): You've mentioned a couple of times, we mentioned a couple of times that we have both high school and adult students in the program.

Ryan (Host): What are some of the benefits of blending those students in the same classroom? 

Lacy Shaw: I'm so glad you asked that question because it's a benefit for me as an instructor to have adults in the classroom. Because adults bring up the maturity level of everyone else in the classroom. They look up to [00:11:00]those adults.

Lacy Shaw: There's some life that's lived, even if it's my early, younger adults, maybe 19, 20, 21, maybe those students, they've had their first job already. They've already lived it a little bit. Sure. But I also have a veteran in my class this year who is a Vietnam veteran. And even he is bringing experience.

Lacy Shaw: To the table that is so valuable. And on the flip side of that, the adults are seeing what the next generation of workers is like before they get out there and actually lead a team of gen alphas. Sure. You see what I'm saying? Oh yeah, definitely. So my students that are adults are seeing the different nuances of this new next generation of workers.

Lacy Shaw: And it's such a beautiful. Con a, a beautiful collaboration of ideas because everyone's coming from a different background anyway. We all have that. But having the life experience difference is [00:12:00] huge too, because it really brings up that, oh, I wanna be just like that adult student who's, I'm seeing that success in real time with that person that's doing a lot more than my.

Lacy Shaw: A cashier job or whatever it is. Sure. They're seeing the potential in their peers. Those high school students are seeing the potential in their peers, and then my adults are seeing that growth along with them. It's such a wonderful dynamic. 

Ryan (Host): Oh, kind of top level overview. What are some of the differences between the generations of students?

Lacy Shaw: My TikTok generation is very social. The, maybe there's a misconception that there's a, that they're not very social, but they actually are probably more social than I even I was as a millennial. Their circle of friends is maybe thousands. If you look at their Instagram, they might have hundreds of followers, first of all, the misconception that a mistake that I might, that I have to make sure that I don't make is assuming that they don't have very many [00:13:00] friends just 'cause they don't talk to me. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like I've gotta, first of all, I've gotta recognize that they are social and they aren't necessarily introverts, but they're.

Lacy Shaw: E their interpersonal skills are stunted just because of the last five years that we've been in different social skill sets. Different Absolutely. Yeah. They're different social skill sets. Yeah. There is a, a. In intuition for safety and especially online safety that the newer generations have that my older generations aren't really understand.

Lacy Shaw: They're like, what? I'm just sending in email. Maybe this email isn't spam. I don't know it, it has my name on it. It is definitely a little bit of a gap when it comes to technology. My older students need a little bit, maybe more support in those, in that technology. My younger students are very quick to pick up new technology and software.

Lacy Shaw: So that's exciting too. But I also recognize that my adults have a [00:14:00] better understanding of social rules. And ex expectations that might the younger generations don't necessarily have or have fully developed. I like to say they haven't yet fully developed those yet, and we are, we're here to help 'em do that.

Ryan (Host): It sounds like a really cool collaboration. 

Lacy Shaw: It's a great collaboration, yeah, and I enjoy watching it happen. 

Ryan (Host): We're located here at the Owasso campus and we're lucky enough to have a beautiful conference center attached here. Yes. What are the unique opportunities that come with the conference center being right next door for your students?

Lacy Shaw: It's an extension of my lab, if you will. I, we have our practice lab here down the hallway with my classroom, but really the conference center is where true action happens. One of the. Oppor. One of the opportunities that my students have is to serve the Owosso Fire Department in December for their awards banquet.

Lacy Shaw: It's about 200 people and it's a formal banquet. We serve the food we serve it in a formal style. We set up the [00:15:00] event and the decorations, we make the centerpieces for it. And in fact my students came up with the idea for the centerpieces. I try to give them the creative liberty to do that.

Lacy Shaw: And it's such a wonderful way to give back to our community in a beautiful facility. And though the support that staff gives is also industry professionals, those folks in the conference center are the. Cream of the crop when it comes to the professionalism and how to run an event. So we collaborate with Leslie Cummings and with Kevin Nelson and that entire team to make it a true learning experience for my students.

Lacy Shaw: Again, a safe place to make mistakes if we have them, but also truly see how a banquet and event of that size is. Executed. 

Ryan (Host): Sure. And then also learn how to get [00:16:00] feedback from that event. Exactly. Post event, you can have that dialogue 

Lacy Shaw: Absolutely. And things like that. 

Ryan (Host): So it's really 

Lacy Shaw: great and it, and from people who know what they're talking about.

Lacy Shaw: Sure. So it's a wonderful collaboration that we have. And it's not the, that's not the only event that we've been participated in. We've. Been asked to send students down as a host for those special events, basically showing guests where to go and directing guests to the restrooms and things like that.

Lacy Shaw: Oh, fun. Yeah. And a few that have served meals or snacks or set up buffets. There's somebody have a face. A student face in front of our guests there, and that really connects those guests to Tulsa Tech in a way that's more intimate rather than just reading maybe a headline in a newspaper. 

Ryan (Host): Sure.

Ryan (Host): It's tangible. 

Lacy Shaw: It's right in front of your face. It's tangible. Exactly. So when you support our conference center, you're also supporting our students as well. Sure. 

Ryan (Host): So many of our other programs your students take part in A-C-T-S-O. Yes. How does that impact the classroom learning? And also share with us maybe what that [00:17:00] experience means for your students.

Lacy Shaw: I love Skills. USA. We use the skills USA framework on a monthly basis. I focus on one of those soft skills in the framework to help develop those personal professional development skills and encourage my students to study what they can. I do have class officers that. Lead the class in those discussions and even come up with some fun activities.

Lacy Shaw: Along with those discussions, we had one where it was all about integrity and professionalism. And somehow my afternoon class came up with a blind box. You touch something blind in, you don't know what's in the box, but you touch it somehow. It was spooky feeling to them, all it was fake flowers, but when you're not knowing sure, not sure what's in the box.

Lacy Shaw: Somehow they made that a lesson about professionalism and. Learning from your [00:18:00] peers and communicating about what might be in the box. And it's just, it's really fun. And I let them lead that lesson and let them lead that, that development in a lot of ways. And I actually have two competitors for the state skills, USA competition for restaurant service.

Lacy Shaw: Last year I had the pleasure of taking a skills student, a state. SA state champion for restaurant service to Georgia for nationals. Oh wow. Cool. And she plays seventh in the nation. 

Ryan (Host): That's so 

Lacy Shaw: awesome. So in my first year I set the bar really high for myself, but I am I love that organization and I'm glad that we have it in the classroom.

Ryan (Host): Do you have a favorite moment from teaching the program so far? 

Lacy Shaw: I have lots of good ones. 

Ryan (Host): Anything you can share on the internet? 

Lacy Shaw: Ah. I had my students do a cheer, like a cheer. I'm not a cheerleader, first of all. [00:19:00] I did not do cheer in high school, but I had my students learn the six big pathogens from Surf Safe.

Lacy Shaw: These are the four bacteria and two viruses. They have complicated names, but I had them introduce themselves like a roll call. 

Isabella (Student): Okay, nice. 

Lacy Shaw: In front of. Ms. Davis and Dr. Clark and it was the, it was funny and I know I put them in the wrong, I put them in an uncomfortable situation. But man, it was so fun to watch and I had a lot.

Lacy Shaw: I bet they 

Ryan (Host): remember 

Lacy Shaw: those terms. Bet they'll remember the rest of their. Yes, I am sure they will remember that. And they will probably remember Ms. Shaw saying something along the lines of I am e coli and I'm a bacteria. That's awesome. It's funny. It was funny and it, I also was told by one of my students, Ms.

Lacy Shaw: Shaw, you're gonna be canceled because you're making aing sing and chant in front of an audience. We didn't know we were gonna do that, we're you're [00:20:00] gonna be canceled.

Ryan (Host): That's funny. 

Lacy Shaw: It was a, it was fun. That was a great memory. 

Ryan (Host): We're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, we'll be joined by Isabella, who's a student in our hospitality and tourism program.

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Ryan (Host): Okay, we are back here. We are chatting with Isabella, who's a student in our hospitality and tourism management program. Isabella, nice to meet you. First off. Nice 

Isabella (Student): to meet you. 

Ryan (Host): So Isabella, what made you decide to apply for the [00:21:00]Hospitality and Tourism Management program? 

Isabella (Student): Okay, so it all started my senior year and.

Isabella (Student): We were getting towards the end of the school year and our, I'm in senior leadership and we were getting ready to plan our talent show, our annual senior talent show. And when we were getting ready to plan it, I was the one who got thrown in charge of it. And so I planned the entire talent show all by myself 

Ryan (Host): as a senior leader.

Isabella (Student): Yeah. But by 

Ryan (Host): yourself was a little hard. 

Isabella (Student): Yeah. By myself was a little hard, but after that I was talking with my mom and she was just telling me, oh my gosh, why haven't we thought about event planning and management? Because. I'm very organized. I love all the details of everything that goes into an event, and so I was looking at Tulsa [00:22:00] Tech for different programs, and then I came over here to the Owosso campus and I got to.

Isabella (Student): I have an overview of the program and I walked out and I just told my mom. I was like, this is the program. This is the program for me because this is my style. 

Ryan (Host): Very nice. How did the talent show turn out? 

Isabella (Student): Everybody said it turned out well, so I'm glad it did, but it was, I was definitely nervous. 

Ryan (Host): Very good.

Ryan (Host): How, what has been your favorite class activity or project so far? 

Isabella (Student): One, the first thing that comes to my mind is when we got to make espresso, that was really interesting and fun to learn and getting to see the machine, and even before making espresso, pointing out all the different parts of an espresso machine and how to clean it and how to properly use it before even.

Isabella (Student): Touching it and making the espresso. 

Ryan (Host): So how caffeinated was the class leaving that day? 

Isabella (Student): Pretty caffeinated, I would [00:23:00] say. 

Ryan (Host): You guys were bouncing off the 

Isabella (Student): walls? Yes. 

Ryan (Host): What's something people might not realize students learn in this program? 

Isabella (Student): I would say all the different aspects of hospitality and understanding that it's very broad and not just hotel or restaurant.

Isabella (Student): It's. Way bigger than that. And just opening your mind to different jobs and possibilities. Possibil, the possibilities of where you could go from event planning to being in the back of house, front of house. It doesn't matter what you're doing, it's mostly working with people is where that hospitality part comes out.

Ryan (Host): Isabella, what do you hope to gain from your time in the program? Yeah. Besides a job, of course.

Isabella (Student): I have really enjoyed just all the different aspects and just learning about hotel and restaurant because I don't know [00:24:00] where life's gonna take me after this. I think I have a plan, but you never know what God has in store for you. Sure. And I just have really enjoyed. Deep diving into each thing instead of just looking at the surface of everything.

Ryan (Host): Sure. Get into the details. 

Isabella (Student): Yes. 

Ryan (Host): Yeah. If you could instantly book a trip anywhere in the world right now, where would you go and why? I, 

Isabella (Student): my first answer is. I have two Florida because that's where I was born, and I always, I just love Florida and then I've never been to Hawaii. Oh. And I'd love to go to Hawaii.

Ryan (Host): Wow. How fun. Yeah. I believe the volcanoes are erupting right now. 

Isabella (Student): Oh dear. 

Ryan (Host): Yeah but that'd be a fun trip to go see 

Isabella (Student): Yes. Say. 

Ryan (Host): Okay. What's the most important lesson hospitality teaches about working with people? 

Isabella (Student): I am gonna say never judge a book by its cover, but more in the sense of also you, you don't [00:25:00] know if they're having a bad day.

Isabella (Student): You don't know what just happened to them, why they might be angry, why they might be upset even though you did nothing wrong necessarily. And just, I work as a hostess at a restaurant and I'm the first person they're seeing when they walk in. And I wanna try to make them, have a better day if they're struggling with something or just make their day even better.

Isabella (Student): And, but I think people don't understand that sometimes people are hiding things that they don't necessarily wanna share or they don't,

Ryan (Host): that's pretty intuitive. 

Isabella (Student): Yeah. 

Ryan (Host): Yeah, that's very true. 

Isabella (Student): Because, we all struggle with things and we all have our bad days, but I, I wanna try to make that better for people rather than, taking that upon myself and making it personal because it had nothing to do with me, but, trying to, just ask how their day is or, [00:26:00] having a smile on my face and just trying to make that a better experience for them. 

Ryan (Host): Very cool. Late Ms. Shaw, what about you? 

Lacy Shaw: I love that answer and I like it made me so proud to hear you say that because that's what I hope that intuition is impossible to teach.

Lacy Shaw: You have to practice that and sometimes experience that and before you can really even be aware that's a skill you developed. So I'm very proud to hear you say that. So thank you, Isabella. 

Ryan (Host): Thank you both for joining us today. It's a pleasure chatting with you. 

Lacy Shaw: Thank you so much for having us.

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