Ohio State students dish out hospitality at professional networking event

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Ohio State students dish out hospitality at professional networking event

Hospitality management students put skills into practice at Big Dish

Students majoring in hospitality management at The Ohio State University hobnobbed with industry movers and shakers at the Big Dish, a catered reception held earlier this spring. The event drew about 200 people to the Stack at Municipal Plant in downtown Columbus.

Presented by the College of Education and Human Ecology (EHE), students organize every aspect of the annual event, including coordinating vendors and tending to guests.

"This is what experiential learning looks like," said Professor Annemarie Turpin, director of EHE's Hospitality Management Advisory Board. "It's all about connection. The connections form here between students, faculty, industry and community."

The Big Dish offers students an opportunity to gain experience in event planning and to network with industry professionals, said EHE Interim Dean Erik Porfeli.

"This is an opportunity for students to connect with industry partners, but go beyond that to show them the talent they have, the training they have, the capacities they have to deliver a world-class hospitality event," he said. "As the students are mixing and mingling with industry partners and getting to know them, they're able to show them the work that they can do."

The Big Dish student planning committee consisted of Charlotte Friedman, Cayleigh King, Rachel Rae and Celine Scaria. Danielle Johnson served as the committee's student leader, conducting meetings and delegating tasks.

"Through this entire process, I realized that I really like events," Johnson said. "I feel like I can handle stress well, which I never really realized before. I love the excitement of the night, creating something special and meaningful."

Johnson said majoring in hospitality management and helping to plan the Big Dish enabled her to hone a broad set of skills that will benefit her in the workforce.

"Hospitality is the business of everything. It is how you talk to people. It's how you interact with people. It's how you answer the phone and your emails. It's greeting people," she said.

"Planning an event, too, is such a rewarding experience. Seeing the joy that our volunteers are bringing to this event. … Our professors have taught us so much that putting this into live learning in action is such a gratifying experience."

The Big Dish culminated with a ceremony that included the presentation of student awards and recognition of industry partners. Graduating senior Jv Velasquez shared that, as a native of the Philippines who moved to the United States seven years ago, the Hospitality Management Program helped him build community.

"Going through this program, I learned so much more. I gained so much friendship, so much connection, so much opportunity that I never thought I would ever have," he said. "And I gained so many people that helped me walk this far."

EHE Hospitality Management alumni Taylor Penn and Frank Chen emceed the ceremony. Penn said she and Chen served on the Big Dish planning committee when they were students in the 2010s and have continued to participate in the event since graduating.

As a student, Penn served as emcee and the planning committee's student leader. She said she developed communication, multitasking and problem-solving skills that she continues to use in her career.

A major reason she has remained involved with the Big Dish is "all the connections and the community that you make," she said. "Being involved makes you meet many more people, and it's more than just a small-talk conversation."

Chen noted that the Big Dish capped an academic year that included over 12 site visits to companies in which students interacted with potential employers - some of whom attended the event.

"Every year, we get to come back to the Big Dish and celebrate the same thing: the successes of the new generation of leaders coming out of this program," said Chen, a Hospitality Management Advisory Board member. "Some of these things that we experienced 10 years ago, when this program was still at the foundation level, now you get to see a lot of these initiatives evolve, progress, or even be upgraded. … It's very exciting for us to vouch for the success of this program."

Student awards presented during the Big Dish include:

Community Impact and Belonging Award - Ava McFall and Danielle Johnson.

Hospitality Management Industry Collaboration Award - Ricky Quintanilla.

Student Hospitality Leadership Award - Abigayle Lydy.

Graduate Student Award - Vishakha Kumari.

Recognition of a Recent Graduate Award - Scott Schmuck.

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