The Anguilla Community College (ACC) has just become more robust with the launching of its first two clubs: the Students Club and the outstanding Hospitality Club. The clubs were launched at the cocktail and dance fundraising function held on Saturday 25th April at the Community College. The function was hosted by the Hospitality Club.
The event had dual purposes: to foster togetherness and to raise funds. It was noted that because there were different divisions of the college and all the students were part-timers it was very difficult to interact. An event such as this was seen as a means of giving students an opportunity to get to know each other, creating bonds and forming network links for future business enterprises.
The Hospitality club is hoping to raise funds to send a few of its members to the Taste of the Caribbean Competition in Miami, Florida, with the Anguilla Culinary Team, where they will get exposure and be able to advertise the college, the hospitality club as well as the country.
Support for the Hospitality Club was offered from inside the college as well as from outside partners. Primary support was pledged by Mr Neville Hamilton, President Student Council, under whose umbrella are all other school clubs, including the Hospitality Club. He complimented them on being motivated and anticipates exciting things for the future.
Shellya Rogers, of the Department of Youth and Culture, was one of the special guests. She emphasized the importance of being part of academic clubs/student bodies that help to represent the interests of students. There were certain benefits to be had, among which, were a family away from your family and using the club as a stepping stone to achievement. She encouraged each member to be an asset, to be committed to the success of the club and be willing to take up the slack, when and where necessary, for the success of the club. She advised that taking an initiative in things you are passionate about, and moving forward with them, is a way of letting your voice be heard.
Rev Candis Niles, of the Anguilla Tourist Board, was quite proud of the Hospitality Club’s presence and functioning. She considered the club as being part of the outgrowth of the ‘Introduction to Hospitality Course’ – part of the Hospitality Ambassador Recruitment Programme (HARP) of which the President, Ms Simonia Williams, and the Vice President, Ms Menisha Maccow, were graduates. She saw this club as the students striving not only for competence but excellence. She challenged the club to remain committed to the awareness of the need for hospitality on the island of Anguilla. Tourism was the number one industry, and Rev Niles hoped that the club would recognize that – and share it with other young people, those in and those not directly in the industry. She pledged her support for the club and looked forward to more students being part of the HARP programme.
Mr Haydn Hughes, in his remarks, congratulated the club and the college on this important event – but he introduced a note of concern about the lack of numbers seeking to take advantage of the programmes offered by the ACC – by those involved in the tourism industry such as the ferryboat operators and workers, the porters, the airline workers and those who work in the restaurants. Mr Hughes observed that everyone was working in the hospitality industry whether it is at a bank in the public service, or on the beach – so it is important that we have the technical skills and the academic skills that the ACC has to offer. He said, “It is incumbent on everyone that all of us recruit, to ensure that we have the skills that are necessary to continue to grow the pie, because it is one thing to get people to come to Anguilla but it is another thing to keep them coming back. We have to know the skills, and virtues and etiquette… There are so many things you can learn through coming to the ACC. So I admonish you to grow from strength to strength and keep recruiting, so that everyone would come to the ACC to see what we have to offer.”
