Elevating Student Engagement: Next Level Mocktail Challenge, Cafe Confidant and Club Tours

Entry Details

Our chapter has implemented innovative programs to enhance student engagement and professional development: the Next Level Mocktail Challenge and the Café Confidant Program.  These are in addition to our club tours, student education and lunch. The Next Level Mocktail Challenge is an interactive networking event that kicked off the summer intern season. Interns are divided into teams and tasked with creating and marketing mocktails under time pressure. This event fosters creativity, teamwork, and networking skills while providing a fun and memorable start to the internship experience. Three managers served as the judges.  The winning team walked away with summer bragging rights and hats from the host club.  Interns then enjoyed a dinner and other networking activities.   The Café Confidant Program is an online mentorship platform that connects interns with experienced industry professionals. It offers virtual one-on-one sessions with managers from various roles, providing personalized guidance and insights beyond what interns might receive at their home clubs. These initiatives have significantly enhanced our chapter by:

• Increasing student engagement and participation in chapter activities
• Providing unique networking opportunities with industry professionals
• Developing essential skills such as teamwork, creativity, and communication
• Offering personalized mentorship and career guidance
• Creating a supportive community for interns to learn and grow

Implementation

The Next Level Mocktail Challenge was hosted as a live event at Cress Creek Country Club, where we collaborated with the venue to provide ingredients and prizes. The club offered an ideal setup, complete with music, a fog machine, and a wall that gradually closed to emphasize the time limits for gathering ingredients. Three managers served as judges, offering constructive feedback throughout the competition. We marketed the event to managers and students through our website, email, social media, and the student internship program booklet. For the Café Confidant Program, we created an online platform using Zoom and recruited industry professionals as mentors. Managers had their "open hours" posted, allowing students to sign up for sessions with their chosen mentors, which included General Managers, Assistant General Managers, and other department managers. Both programs were actively promoted to our student members, and we facilitated the sign-up process. The response from student interns has been overwhelmingly positive. They expressed excitement about the interactive nature of the Mocktail Challenge, appreciating the chance to showcase their creativity and network with peers and professionals in a lively setting. Many reported that the event boosted their confidence and helped them forge lasting connections. Similarly, the Café Confidant Program has been well-received, with students valuing the personalized insights gained from experienced managers. They feel more confident and better prepared for their careers, benefiting from networking opportunities with managers outside their own clubs. The flexibility of virtual sessions has also been highly appreciated. Overall, these initiatives have revitalized our chapter, increasing participation rates and fostering a stronger sense of community among our members. The positive feedback we've received has encouraged us to continue these programs in the future.