Gateway to Great Careers hosted the third of 8 industry tours with Gulf Shores High School. Each month for the 2023-2024 school year, a maximum of 30 students and teachers hop on a bus and tour a specific industry. For the month of November, Hospitality and Tourism was the focus. Thank you to Spectrum Resorts, The Wharf, The Wharf Restaurant Group, A&R Group, Cosmo's Restaurant Group, Springhill Suites, and Perdido Beach Resort.
The day started at The Beach Club where Peggy Wilson, Director of Human Resources, coordinated several employees to speak to the students. The groups consisted of mostly juniors and senior who were either enrolled in the Hospitality and Tourism or Culinary classes at the high school. Peggy also provided the students with donuts, a tour of the property, a tour of one of the penthouses, and also a trivia game!
Our second stop was The Wharf, where the one and only Jim Bibby gave the students a tour of Heron Point, a backstage tour of the Amphitheater, and what's to come at the new Portside construction site. We ended the tour at Villaggio Grille, where the so kindly sponsored lunch for the students. Ivey McLean, Director of Operations for the restaurant group, spoke about her journey 10 years ago starting as a server. We then had similar stories shared by Michelle Davis - General Manager at Springhill Suites, Matt Pugh - Director of Operations for Cosmo's Restaurant Group, and Jerry D'Aquisito - Director of Human Resources and Snehal Adekar - Workforce Development Specialist with A&R Hospitality Group
We ended the day with a through and behind the scenes tour at Perdido Beach Resort. Director of Sales, Larry Morris, and two if his team members walked the property with the students, showing them convention meeting space, and walked the back of house thorough the catering kitchen, Voyagers kitchen, guestrooms, the pool area, and ended with a visual art scavenger hunt on the new mural at their bottom floor motor court.
The Gateway Initiative and Gulf Shores High School are so grateful for the business community and Gateway Investors for making this such a special experience for these students! If you are your businesses are wanting to be involved in future tours, check out the schedule below and contact Tyler Morgan. (tyler@gatewayinitiative.com).