Students at Impact Mentoring Academy were given a hands-on experience in the hospitality industry last month at its second annual Impact Hotel event.

The event, organised as part of the Bermuda Hospitality Institute’s Hospitality Skills, Life Skills programme, tasked the more than 20 students with setting tables, serving food and interacting with “customers” with a smile.

It came after weeks of classroom teaching and hands-on training through a partnership with Hamilton Princess.

Chris Crumpler, the Executive Director at Impact Mentoring Academy, said: “This is our second time running this programme and to see the boys grow and develop was just amazing.

“They worked hard, served others with eagerness, practised teamwork and just gleamed with self-pride. It was awesome to watch and something we hope to continue into the future.”

Zhuri Burgess and Antonio Carvelho, 16, were two young people who excelled in the programme. While neither plan to go into the hospitality industry full time, they say the social skills they learnt will continue with them in their future careers.

Zhuri said: “My goal is to get into sports medicine. With that I still have to deal with people on a regular basis so I have to be of service and learn to work with lots of different kinds of people, just like we learnt through the hospitality programme.”

Antonio said: “The programme taught us something new and helped to build our self-esteem. I learnt how to set tables, bring glasses on a tray and put the utensils in a special order. I learnt that I can be patient and not have to rush everything.

“The biggest reward was getting all the people’s comments afterwards. People said ‘thank you’ and ‘you are very good at it’, which I never knew I was.”

Malika Cartwright, BHI’s executive director, said the goal of the programme was for students to walk away seeing hospitality as not only a viable career option, but also a skill set they can use in their everyday lives.

“The programme was developed to demonstrate the importance of being hospitable as a life skill and to raise the level of awareness of the hospitality industry as a viable career choice in Bermuda,” Mrs Cartwright said.

“We are always looking to expand the programme into more schools and it was great that Impact Mentoring Academy had heard about the programme and wanted to make it a part of their curriculum.”