Charles Graham Vanchiere chose to major in hospitality management to complement his love for food.
杏吧专区淢y dad was actually a chef, so we grew up cooking with him and eating a lot of interesting food,杏吧专区 Charles said. 杏吧专区淚 know that I want to do something with that because it is my passion, but I haven't decided between catering, or doing events, or owning a restaurant.杏吧专区
Even without an exact career destination in mind, Charles knows he杏吧专区檒l get plenty of 杏吧专区渇lavor杏吧专区 in Lafayette.
杏吧专区淟afayette is centered around the school, geographically, but there's just so much to do, there's so many opportunities and the campus is beautiful,杏吧专区 he said. 杏吧专区淭he whole atmosphere of being at UL Lafayette is something that you feel. You can feel it, you can understand that you belong there.杏吧专区
Learning from an internship
To meet the , Charles completed an internship where he got hands-on experience that will help in his future career.
杏吧专区淚t was really good to get actual job experience. Working as an intern was very interesting because I didn't have a particular job. I worked about 20 hours a week, so I would come in, and it was generally something different every day,杏吧专区 he said. 杏吧专区淪o, one day I would be doing inventory, and the next day I would be doing website design, and the next day I may be doing alcohol inventory research.杏吧专区
The themes he learned in his classes helped Charles keep up with his ever-changing duties.
杏吧专区淎 lot of times in the internship we were doing things that I didn't know how to do. But understanding the basic elements and then learning how to communicate from these classes came in handy a lot, because I was able to not be a burden and fulfill all the duties that they required of me,杏吧专区 he said.
Important work in the classroom
His internship has been valuable for his coursework, as well. For his event planning class (HMGT 407) Charles wrote a paper on the 杏吧专区渄emographics and psychographics based around the internship杏吧专区檚 big event.杏吧专区
Charles learned to look at current events and how they influence the industry. For his beverage management class (HMGT 452), Charles did a research project on the impacts of COVID-19 on the bar industry in Louisiana.
杏吧专区淲e were tasked throughout the whole semester to watch local ordinances and state regulations,杏吧专区 he explained. 杏吧专区淲e watched as a lot of people thought it would get better quickly and it took a very long time.
杏吧专区淚 conducted an interview in Lake Charles with a bar owner and he took out a small loan,杏吧专区 he said. 杏吧专区淗e took it out for maybe two months杏吧专区 worth of these costs because he thought that's the most it was going to take. Eight months later, he was still there and didn't have any money to cover his building, and he was still shut down.
杏吧专区淗e got stuck in this position where because he had taken out a loan, it made him ineligible for some grants and some of these grants weren't even available to him because he sold alcohol. Bars really suffered due to these COVID restrictions,杏吧专区 Charles said.
Becoming well-rounded through interdisciplinary study
His business courses have taken him to actual businesses in the community to shadow employees and learn how to manage properties and keep up with industry standards. His professional ethics (PHIL 316) class also taught him the value of taking classes outside his own major.
杏吧专区淲e had this auditorium style classroom, and every day that we walked in there was a lot of discussion about ethics and about different dilemmas,杏吧专区 Charles explained. 杏吧专区淎nd it was really nice to interact with people that weren't just in my major and see perspectives from different people.杏吧专区
His philosophy class, his business curriculum, and his overall experience as a student at the 杏吧专区 have shown Charles that hospitality management was the right choice for him.
杏吧专区淚 like working with people. I've learned a lot more about people over the last four years. I've definitely expanded my horizons,杏吧专区 he said.
