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What would you pay to take the trip of a lifetime to Napa, and Sonoma, Ca., to tour vineyards with wine connoisseurs and visit restaurants with the nation's top chefs?
For a select group of 14 Auburn seniors majoring in Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM), the price is only the cost of a three-hour summer course. For the fifth straight year, the HRM trip is taking place under the direction of Martin O'Neill.
The group, including 14 students, four sponsors and two professors, O'Neill and Abel Alonzo, will spend May 16-26, 2009, touring Napa and Valley Sonoma and visiting restaurants and vineyards including the Pisoni Vineyards and Winery, French Laundry restaurant and the Robert Mondavi Winery. While at the wineries, the students have the chance to pick grapes and watch mashings; at restaurants, they will meet renowned chefs and sample wine pairings. In addition, they will spend one night in a five-star hotel.
"The people that organize the trip see it as a learning tool. The students selected to submitted application materials on a short deadline and then were narrowed down for an interview," HRM senior Rachael Cink explained. Cink was chosen to be part of the trip, after anticipating the opportunity for more than a year. In addition to being seniors, students selected must be 21 years old because so much of the trip focuses on wine tasting and winery tours.
The trip functions as part of a senior professional elective offered during the first summer "mini-mester." When the students return to Auburn, they write a follow-up report about their experiences. As glamorous as it sounds, each item on the group's itinerary has its purpose.
"There's a lot of networking opportunities with the sponsors, as well as chefs and other people we spend time with while we're there," Cink continued. "It's basically a 10-day interview." The night in the five-start hotel was added to the trip after O'Neill discovered that many HRM students are intimidated to apply or interview at the high-end resorts because they had never been exposed to it and didn't feel that they would know how to treat a guest.
Several students who participated in the trip last summer finished with internship opportunities, and there's even a chance for a job offer. One of the sponsors owns a number of local hotels, and he often conducts interviews at the end of the trip if he sees potential in the students.
Before the trip, the students attend a dinner to refresh their etiquette skills, and they give presentations about the places they will visit to ensure that participants are knowledgeable and are able to make the most of the opportunities they have. They also receive a booklet containing exhaustive information about where they'll be and who they'll meet.
Collectors have reportedly offered a large sum of money for the same trip, only to be refused. Auburn remains the only university to offer this opportunity to its students. Cornell University recently organized a similar trip, but requires each participant to find the money to fund their own trip.