Well, I’d like to introduce myself.
My name is Christina Adams and I’m the senior
benefits specialist and tribal liaison here
at Swinomish Casino & Lodge.
The Swinomish Culinary Arts and Hospitality
Program came about in the need to help our
high school students be exposed to the culinary
arts and hospitality world and also give them
opportunity to have real world experience
and hands-on training within this industry
while earning high school credits and also
learning first hand form our professionals.
The first week, we had presentations from
our instructor, Lyle Hildahl, in addition
to just learning the culture at Swinomish
Casino & Lodge.
The second week and third week, we will be
rotating from seven different jobs positions.
Include front desk, receptionist, reservations,
dishwasher, line cook.
In concluding or wrapping up our program,
we are going to spend one day in creating
applications, viable applications that are
going to be using in their job fair.
And they are also going to do mock interviews
and resume writing.
My name is Lyle Hildahl and I am the instructor.
This is actually a Northwest Career & Technical
program.
It’s a summer school through the Northwest
Career & Technical Academy that partnered
with the Swinomish tribe and resort and then
these other school districts.
It is driven and funded by the NWCTA.
The program is, in my opinion, one of the
most innovative, awesome training programs
for youth that I’ve ever been involved in.
Everyday they go into a different experience
with a different team and experience what
it’s like to actually work in a resort property.
Amazing opportunity for these kids and I am
blown away at the way they embraced and I’m
also blown away at the way the team here has
embraced the interns, embraced the kids.
They have taken them on, and they have coached
them and trained them and mentored them.
There’s not one team member here who hasn’t
had a smile with our kids.
I mean the first thing of S.W.I.N. is smile
and that’s what we’re doing.
We were fortunate to have 15 applicants participate
in our program.
These students range from Sedro-Woolley, Mount
Vernon, Oak Harbor, La Conner, Anacortes,
and Burlington-Edison high schools.
Hi, I’m Lashay, but you can just call me
Shay.
I learned that I enjoy cooking.
I learned a lot while I was in the Sports
Bar kitchen and I had a lot of fun working
there, but besides that I kind of like Carver’s
Café as well.
In Carver’s Café I enjoyed learning how
to roll the silverware properly.
It was a cool technique to learn.
I enjoyed working with the people there.
They were really uplifting and just really
fun.
And the neat thing, when we go through the
takeaways is when I see the energy that comes
out of the kids, when they get to talk about
that experience and the realization that they
are learning an awful lot in a very short
period of time.
So I hope that this is a program that will
continue in the future and not only with programs
in hospitality but other disciplines, other
career paths, but couldn’t find a better
place, a better environment to train youth
on the world of hospitality.
I am Sierra Mierzeski, and I am from Mount
Vernon High School.
It definitely has prepared in the sense that
I’ve grown with my people skills definitely
and I’ve also been able to be exposed to
more job opportunities and things that I could
be good at.
So we did a scavenger hunt and it was really
fun and me and my partner we won.
It was really fun because we got to explore
around the Lodge and in the kitchens and everywhere
and it helped us learn where everything was
and we had to figure out where new things
were and we met people at the different stations
and it was really interesting.
I am so grateful for the partnership that
we have with the Swinomish Casino & Lodge
because I can’t imagine a better learning
environment than what the team here has been
able to provide for these kids.
They have been absolutely amazing.
The last day of our program, we are going
to have a job fair in the morning, have an
awards banquet.
We will be welcoming the students’ family
to see where their students have worked and
meet some of our staff.
So once again, this is a pilot program.
We are hoping for a great success.
We’ve got nothing but good feedback from
our staff, from the parents, and also from
the administration.
We are so excited on how well and successful
this is working.
This program is quite unique in the way that
we have many collaborating partners.
Some of our partners are Swinomish Casino
& Lodge, the Swinomish Education Department,
La Conner Schools, as well as the [Northwest
Career and Technical Academy].
All of our partners have played pivotal roles
within this organization and we couldn’t
do it without any one of them.
Well this being a pilot program we are looking
possibly in the future to offering this again
as another summer program.
It seems to work really well with the students’
schedule and also with our staff.
If you are a counselor, a student or a community
member that is interested in getting one of
your students involved in this program please
contact Swinomish Casino & Lodge HR Department
or Northwest Tech & Career Academy and thanks
so much for all your support.
