Every year Grove City College’s Career Services Office hosts its Professionalism & Etiquette Night for GCC students to help develop their professionalism for their future vocations. The limited seating event is always popular with around 100 students attending and more on a waiting list. Running 90 minutes, the program is orchestrated by Career Services Office staff members Courtney Vago, Mandy Sposato and Amy Evans, who discuss dining etiquette, business etiquette and professional dress.
The night kicks off by an overview of the event and brief prayer by the Student Assistant coordinator, and is followed by a finely prepared dinner by Bon Appetit. The dinner is always a highlight for the students because they are served satisfying dishes and followed by three choices of dessert. Needless to say, the students that attend never leave hungry. While the students are being served their dinner, Vago and Sposato share insight on how to properly eat when you are at a business dinner meeting. Some tips that the students hear are suggestions to wait until everyone has received their food, not ordering the most expensive item on the menu, and so on. Once the speakers concluded the discussion of proper dining etiquette, the focus changed to inform students on how to act in order to stand out to a company.
Transitioning from dining and business interactions, Amy Evans takes the reigns and provides students with numerous examples of business appropriate outfits and clothing suggestions to keep in mind when they go out to shop for their next business suit. Evans lays out skirts, shirts, blouses, trousers and suits for the students to see what they should be looking for and what they should be “trashing”. What better way to show the students what a successful business outfit looks like than on a model? The event features eight student models that strut the “catwalk” and show current business styles. The four female models and four male models are provided with their outfits two stores from the Grove City Outlets. The female models wear clothing from the Ann Taylor Boutique and the male models wear clothing from the Banana Republic. Two high-rated stores that sell great pieces for business wear.
As the last model walks down the catwalk Evans summarizes the presentation for the students. Basically, she explains what they should keep in mind the next time they go shopping, what they should just discard, and specifically, she shares some suggestions for the Education majors that are attending the event. She explains that teachers are bound by certain regulations and requirements in regard to their dress.
Vago, Sposato and Evans come together to wrap up the event with summarizing the entire night and going over the key points the students should take with them. Raffle prizes donated by the Career Services, such as tumblers, portfolios and thank-you business cards are given out to lucky winners. Finally, the floor is opened up to the students for a Q&A time where they can direct their questions to the three women.
Not a new idea, the Food Forum originally began in 1998 and was called “Trays Up Forum.” Students would bring their dinner from MAP Cafe and sit around a table with the food committee staff to discuss topics. Although the format was slightly different, the topics discussed were similar to the ones discussed at the current Food Forums. Students want to know why certain products are not being offered, what they wish to see less of, ideas for new menus, better sanitary suggestions, and so forth. Most of the time students complain about not having certain brands or options, but do not realize that there usually is an explanation for it. The forum allows students to understand the reasons behind why or why not certain things are done. This conversation allows Bon Appetit to explain why they do what they do and permits them to make changes if possible.
