Speed school

Even though they're in class only two and half hours a day, the eight students in a new hospitality management course in Reno will complete a two-year training program in one school year.

Now their teacher is looking for ways to deepen the students' ties with the hospitality industry throughout northern Nevada.

The Regional Technical Institute course was a last-minute addition to this year's class schedule, and instructor Lee Wilhelm scrambled to distribute 10,000 brochures to Washoe County high school students as the school year wrapped up last spring.

From those 10,000 brochures,Wilhelm attracted nine students one has since dropped out to a class that will lead to their certification by the American Hotel & Lodging Association.

Students attend classes at the Regional Technical Institute part of each day and attend traditional high school the remainder.

If they decide to pursue a college degree in hospitality management,most schools give a semester's worth of college credit for the American Hotel & Lodging Association certification.

The hotel and hospitality program is one of 22, including 15 in careers ranging from veterinary technician to culinary arts, offered at the technical institute.

The skills students are learning in the hospitality program are detailed in a 12-page booklet everything from telephone sales and organization of housekeeping carts to the development of bids for special events.

In recent days, for instance, the students have worked with participants in a computerized drafting course at the technical institute to develop blueprints for hotels that they're creating after conducting marketing work to gauge the potential demand.

Executives of the hospitality industry in the region have voiced strong support for the program,Wilhelm says.

As the hotel and hospitality course was developed, industry executives noted that their in-house training programs for young managers are both expensive and time-consuming.

And they welcomed the Washoe County School District's willingness to help students reach the first rung on the management ladder.

Now that the students have completed the first portion of their training,Wilhelm is looking to deepen their ties to the hospitality industry.

The students need opportunities to job shadow not just to tag along, but also to complete some of the work toward certification.

Others are looking for paid internships or even full-blown employment in the industry.

In fact,Wilhelm says,most of the students aged 17 to 19 already are working fulltime jobs not necessarily in the hospitality industry even as they attend high school.

"These kids are burning the candle at both ends," he says."They really want to work."

And he notes that they're fired up about possible careers in hotel management even though the industry isn't commonly viewed as glamorous by high school students.

"Learning how to make a bed isn't glamorous," Wilhelm tells them."But managing 30 people who make the beds for you that's glamorous."