WCU CMAA Student Chapter

News

December 4th, Student members and Mrs. Grunwell volunteered a “Mountains Arts & Crafts” fair supporting local projects. We helped mostly with the set up of the food and beverage operation of it. Many other student organizations were there helping as well.

October 10-11th, the Carolina ’s Chapter had its fall quarterly meeting in Charlotte , NC . The business and educational meeting was held in the Marriott in downtown Charlotte . Sunday opened up with the Carolina ’s business meeting. At this meeting new officers were voted in and businesses from the officers and from Carolina ’s regions were given. The University of South Carolina and Western Carolina University officers also presented their quarterly reports (WCU report). After the business session, everyone walked over to the vendor show in the Marriot hotel. Vendors ranging from software, to food to club house design all had booths and provided information. The vendors were very open informal. They were open to any/all questions and make great contacts. Later that evening was the Carolina ’s dinner/dance at the Charlotte City Club. After cocktailing/socializing for an hour we sat down and enjoyed wonderful food and service. The club prepared a scallop dish for our appetizer, Roasted loin of Elk for our entrée and dessert was set up for us around the club. Before everyone went to the dance floor Mr. Michael Ambrose presented various awards and announced Mr. Damon DiOrio as our new chapter president and announced/welcomed new board members. That evening we listened to great music by the Daniel Entertainment Group and danced till about midnight . Early Monday morning Carolina ’s members attended an educational session on Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC).-thanks for the great weekend

April 17th-19th, The Carolina's had a wonderful meeting in Charleston , South Carolina . The quarterly meeting was held Saturday and Monday at the Double Tree Inn in Charleston . Michael Gartside, manager of the Carolina Yacht Club kicked off the weekend with an oyster roast and a great bluegrass band at his club. The business and educational sessions started mid-day Sunday in the conference rooms of the Double Tree Inn. The business session is an opportunity for all to attend and hear about what is going on in our chapter and discuss general business. The board governing the Carolina 's, officers from each region, the University of South Carolina and Western Carolina University all present their reports to the Carolina 's members as well. Later in the afternoon guest speaker, Ms. Susan Clarke, a Certified Behavior and Values Analyst, designed and presented a program labeled as "The Fun-Damentals of Team Play." The first three fundamentals were presented Sunday afternoon and the rest of the session continued early Monday morning. A copy of the program is available in Professor Sandy Grunwell's office. Later that evening the Carolina 's Yacht Club hosted another wonderful event in which they served a three course dinner entailing sautéed quail breast for an appetizer, Wood Grilled Veal Chop as our entrée and for dessert we had Apple Ravioli and Rhubarb soup with white chocolate risotto. After dinner we walked down the pier and hopped aboard the ship General Beauregard for a harbor cruise. While aboard we were entertained by a live band, danced and socialized all night.

April 15th, John Matthews and executive chef Mike Virgili both from Carmel Country Club made presentations to us. Chef Virgili taught the students how to make homemade pasta with shrimp. The students had a fun time making their own pasta and in the end it came out great and we made dinner out of it. After dinner John Matthews made a wine presentation and went over he and chef's recent tour in Europe through the castles, vineyards and wineries.

March 24th, 2 WCU Chapter members attended the region four monthly meeting. The meeting was held at the Milliken plant in Spartanburg , SC. Milliken is one of the largest textile and chemical plants in the world. Our host Steve Burgess showed us a portion of the facility and presented us two informational videos focusing on customer service. All chapter members were then treated to lunch in Milliken's facility. After lunch we were shown another piece of the property where Milliken will house some of its vendors and other guests. There are several buildings lavished with fine furniture and décor as well as an on site, full service kitchen and dining room. Jim McCallister, Certified Executive Chef (CEC) is the chef in charge of it all. Chef McCallister is a member of the American Culinary Foundation and was part of the Olympic Culinary Team. He and his staff prepared us another wonderful meal and made a presentation on the meal, his type of service there at Milliken's site and answered all our questions.

March 18th CCM, Todd Taylor from the Country Club of Sapphire Valley joined us and presented to us the C.C.S.V. Capital Improvement Plan (online here) for his club. Walker Taylor from Cedar Creek Racquet Club also joined us and both spoke to us about possible job opportunities and internship possibilities in their clubs.

February 14th - 19th, 16 WCU Chapter members were flown to the CMAA National Conference in Anaheim , California . Everyone attended at least 6 educational sessions, student ice breaker and breakfast session. We also visited the expo and the various exhibits throughout the Anaheim Marriot and Convention Center. Sessions last about an hour and a half each and take place throughout every day. Students are free to choose which sessions they would like to attend. After going to the sessions students toured the Anaheim area, went out to eat at restaurants of their choice, enjoyed the night life and even got to go to Disney world.

CMAA booked Disney's California Adventure for one night. Disney put on a show with the bands, buffets and bars scattered about the park. The park on any day can accommodate 80,000 people and they closed it off to the 4,000+ CMAA members that got tickets for it, so no one ever had to wait to get on a ride.