Last month, two of our Glion Campus Life Leaders (CLL), Anna Ahlmann (Swedish) and Aicha Hugelshofer (Swiss-Moroccan), organized a gala dinner in the restaurant of the Hotel the Alpes. With ladies in long dresses and gentlemen in suits and bowties, the ambiance was truly one of high society! The students in Kitchen Applied Learning also gave their best to provide us with delicious fine food. After this fun and successful event, I decided to meet with Aïcha and Anna, both in their 2nd semester of the Bachelor in Hospitality Management, to know more about the organization process.
Can you talk a little bit about this event, how did you come up with this idea?
Anna: “As Campus Life Leaders (CLL), we are responsible for organizing a project during the semester. So, Aïcha and I decided to work together. The next step was to think about what we wanted to do. We then decided that we wanted to bring people together and give students a chance to dress up. Also, we thought we had missed this ourselves and the response from people was very positive. Therefore, a gala dinner seemed like the perfect idea!”
Tell us a bit more about the organization of such an event.
Anna: “The process of organizing an event seems pretty easy on paper; however, there were actually a lot of tiny details we had to get right. We had to communicate with many different departments and look over what was possible. First, we designed the menu. Secondly, we had to come up with a system in order for people to sign up and then collect that information. Thirdly, we had to deliver that information to the service, kitchen and front office teams and make sure they were all on board with the details. Then you always have some last minute surprises. Like what to do when some people cancel just one hour before, or when you realize that blowing up balloons takes longer than you thought or that the time of dinner was misunderstood by one of the teams. Overall, it was very fun, but of course it all takes time and requires organisation.”
What do you think of the outcome/turnout?
Aicha & Anna: “The outcome was better than expected actually, nothing went wrong and everyone seemed happy. However, it would have been nice if we would have organized more activities during the dinner. The first dinner, seven people cancelled at the last minute which made it difficult for both us and the service team. For the second dinner, only three people cancelled, so that went smoother. Everyone looked smart and pretty, so it really showed us that people were excited to finally have a type of “prom” event at the school!”
Aicha: “Thanks to this CLL project, we learned plenty about organizing an event and making sure everyone is on the same page in order to deliver a great experience.”
See the full album photos of the evening on the Glion Facebook page.
About Campus Life Leaders
The CLL students volunteer their time and work closely with the Student Affairs Department to improve the quality of life on campus through an open dialogue and activities that bring students together. CLL students are taught leadership skills that are applied in their projects. They have a project supervisor, normally a Student Affairs staff member, who helps and guides them. Overall, the CLL position gives them a real chance to influence and serve their community in addition to opportunities that taps into their own creativity.
