NASSAU, The Bahamas – Some 120 hospitality/tourism studies public high school students have been recognized and celebrated for successfully completing the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI) international certification programme.

The Ministry of Education and Technical & Vocational Training; Tourism, Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Leisure Management (THeCALM) and the Family and Consumer Science Education Unit (FCSE) hosted the ceremony Friday, May 24th, 2024 for students throughout The Bahamas.
The theme for the live-stream event was “Dream, Believe, Achieve.”

Certificates were presented to the students who shared reflections of the programme.  

Participants included: Mario Adderley, Dean of THeCALM; Raquel Turnquest, Education Officer, FCSE Unit and Robert Butler, teacher, FCSE Unit.

Education Officer Patrice Green congratulated the students for their hard work and dedication on behalf of the Ministry of Education. She also thanked the teachers, parents and industry partners for their participation in the programme.

Keynote speaker Tameka Burrows-Forbes, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources at Atlantis, Paradise Island addressed the topic “Skillful Future: The power of skilled based readiness.”

Mrs. Burrows-Forbes told the students that they should hone the skills of respect, perseverance and a passion for what they do to enter the service industry and progress in life.

She said, “Understand that you have to develop the skills that will enable you to be productive citizens of this country, productive employees for the organizations that you will work for and also you are the cornerstone at this point in time for further development of our tourism industry.”

She outlined the skill sets of communication, language skills, critical thinking and foreign languages as needed for career options in the industry including “front of house.”

“Communication skills -- we found this to be a concern recently for us. Being at the front desk as a new hire you have to be able to engage customers. We have a lot of team members who we have to train to engage with our guests. Smiling is essential. When you travel the expectation is that when I greet you, I greet you with a level of hospitality and we’re losing that in the hospitality industry. The engagement has to be there. The engagement is not only communicating with a smile, it’s communicating with body language, with your brand. When you communicate you really are concerned about their experience.

“There is a path. It’s about starting, and all you have to do is start and you would be amazed how you will continue to grow in organizations and afford yourself the best opportunities in hospitality.  Be inspired, be ready for the new and different, don’t be afraid to shine,” she said.

AHLEI is widely recognized as the prominent leader in global hospitality certification. The institution provides hospitality organizations and schools with quality resources to train, educate and certify new professionals.   

(BIS Photos/Mark Ford)