From Marketing to Warehouse

 We’ve had some busy weeks here at Penn State exploring the different branches of foodservice. Last week we were able to meet the marketing team and see some of their work productions for the dining halls. They are a highly motivated and creative team, and it was very interesting to learn what they do to make the dining halls more appealing to the students. We also learned about Food Pro, which is a system created by Penn State that has every recipe loaded in it and can give all the details about any food that has been previously ordered or prepared here. It makes finding nutritional facts easy, and is a great method for double checking whether or not allergens are contained in certain foods. We concluded the week working with the Grade 10 workers who are responsible for cutting fruits, vegetables and desserts and preparing the salad and deli bars. 

This week we were sent to the warehouse to learn more about the process behind receiving food, as well as delivering it to the various dining halls on campus. Also located in the warehouse is the fabulous bakery that provides far too many tempting sweet samples in the break room, and constantly smells like fresh bread baking in the oven. While working in the bakery, we had the opportunity to help prepare some delicious baked goods, and also got to learn how to work some of the large machinery in there.

Although our weeks have been packed with learning experiences, we never forget to make time for fun! Over the past couple weeks we were very lucky to be taken to a small lake with the director of the dining halls, where we kayaked and canoed for a couple hours, we hiked Tussy Mountain, and we also managed to make our way to Philadelphia to try some cheesesteak and check out the liberty bell and Independence Hall.  

You Scream I Scream We All Scream for... Chocolate?!

Yup that’s right we went to the world famous Hershey Park for our fun weekend part #2!!! And yes it’s true the town does smell like chocolate and lots of it! That’s because Hershey chocolate has a factory located in Hershey Pennsylvania, its own town. Of course the first thing we did was go to the chocolate factory. Once we walked through those doors we were embraced by the overwhelmingly amazing smell of chocolate. The Hershey chocolate tour was more like a ride where we got to hear the story behind Hershey’s chocolates and how they are mixed and made. The best part about the tour was the singing cows! They sang about how they helped produce the milk for the chocolate and let me tell you it was the cutest/funniest thing ever. After the tour they gave out Hershey candy which topped it all off. But no one can go the Hershey PA without going to their own theme park! They have so many amazing roller coasters. There are three wooden roller coasters that are the best I’ve ever ridden and I’ve been on a lot of roller coasters. The two best roller coasters there are the Fahrenheit which has an insane drop with crazy twists and turns and the second is the Storm Runner which goes from 0 to 60mph in a matter of seconds. We could not get enough of the par, we even went on some rides over again and one ride three times. Along with the roller coasters they have a water park inside the park and of course amazing food. They also had a Hershey bar and kiss mascot. After a fun filled day at the park we sadly had to leave but we created so many memories and would rate this park up there with Disneyland it was just that SWEET!

Fun Weekend Part #1

Our first free weekend was FUN filled! On Saturday, we visited America’s only all-water cavern, named Penn’s Cave. It is only a 30-minute drive from State College. We took the one mile guided motorboat tour on an underground stream onto Lake Nitanee. It was 55º F in the cave and we got to experience “absolute darkness” that only happens under snow, in the deep ocean, and in caves. The cavern was filled with stalactites and stalagmites that often have mysteriously familiar forms, such as The Statue of Liberty.

According to the legend, the cave was discovered by the Seneca Indians centuries ago. An Indian maiden, Nitanee and her secret French lover, Malachi tried to run away to get married, but they were captured. Malachi was thrown into Penn's Cave to die and his body sunk in the deepest part of the cave. The story says that people could hear Malachi call out for Nitanee every day as he waited to die in the cave.

What we did on Sunday will be in our next blog. All I can say now that it in involves chocolate and screaming. 

Grade 8 Extravaganza!

Our loyal team of interns here at Penn State spent the past two days divided between different dining commons to work with the grade 8 chefs in the kitchens. For Angela and I, this meant waking up at 4:30am and hiking up the hill to the Findlay dining commons to prepare food for the 2,800 guests competing in the Special Olympics. 

Day 1 began with mindless help in the kitchen and quickly turned into the two of us each holding spatulas and frantically scrambling gallons of eggs over the huge hot stove. We learned a valuable lesson that day, that without years and years of experience, these tasks are certainly not as easy as the cooks make them appear to be. From there, they managed to keep us quite busy with multiple tasks ranging from slicing lunch meats to preparing the Celiac trays of food and hand delivering them to our guests. 

By day 2, the cooks felt confident enough to leave us alone with multiple batches of pancake batter and 4 huge grills. 3 ½ hours and thousands of pancakes later, we both agreed that we would not be in need of an arm workout anytime in the near future.Who would have known PSU’s dining facilities could be so accommodating? All in all, we both had a fantastic experience meeting all of the cooks and becoming more familiar with the operations of a dining hall kitchen. 

Rolling VIP at the BJC!

Today we had the luxury of exploring the Bryce Jordan Center, which is a 400,000sq foot multipurpose building that can seat 16,000 people, and is a huge source of entertainment here at Penn State. It has been the host of numerous events, including circuses, commencement ceremonies, basketball games, various family shows, and even musical guests such as Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Keith Urban, Elton John, and more. Our main focus today was on the background of the concessions and foodservice that help to launch these shows and truly make them a memorable experience for both the audience, as well as many of the stars. 

Possibly the best part of this tour was hearing stories of past singers who have performed here and have given Penn State high demands ranging from very specific floral arrangements, to caviar delivered from another state, and even things as bizarre as M&M’s, but only the blue kind. It's obvious that vast amounts of work goes into preparing for these large events and mass quantities of people, with much credit owed to the BJC’s catering team, who we actually had the opportunity to work with last weekend. After receiving a guided tour through the concessions area, we also became more aware of how much forecasting and research is needed to determine the amounts of food necessary to make the customers happy. We were also very impressed to learn that the concessions floor of the facility is working hard to become a zero waste area within the next year or so. Penn State not only cares about its students, but its customers as well!

Penn State the Green!

The campus of Penn State is very green! There are large, well-maintained lawns where students sunbathe or play Frisbee in the afternoon. Parks with old trees, tucked away gardens with benches, and lot of blooming plants make the campus a truly beautiful place. Cute little bunnies, squirrels, and chipmunks are all over the place, and we even saw beavers and a skunk the other night.

Penn State is also a Green campus. People are very environmentally conscious - there are recycling bins everywhere; the buses run on 100% natural gas; the used oil from the dining halls is used to make bio- diesel. The campus has its own composting facility that takes the organic waste from the dining halls and turns it into mulch that is used on campus. The kitchen of the Bryce Jordan center that can host 16,000 people generates a handful of waste – everything else is recycled. It’s great to see that Penn State is Green, not only on the outside, but also on the inside.  

Mount Nittany

On our first day off the crew climbed up Mount Nittany not far from campus. This is a typical must-do thing for Penn State students and visitors so we figured we'd knock it off our checklist. Penn State's mascot - the Nittany Lion - comes from the lions that once roamed this nearby mountain. Penn State happens to be located in a beautiful valley thus it's nickname of "Happy Valley". The name fits too since the people here are very friendly! There's a great lookout point of State College, PA from Mount Nittany as seen in the picture above.

First classes

Our first session was team building with the assistant program director who specializes in team building. The session helped us get to know each other better and opened the channel of communication. We learned that the four of us are very different and, because of that, we have a lot to learn from each other. Also, focusing on the similarities rather than the differences can make us a great team. At the end of the class, we built a very tall tower of mouse traps without snapping our fingers.

We discovered in our Native American Medicine class taught by the special programs coordinator of campus dining that there are three East eagles and one North bison in our team. Eagles are visionary people with strong spiritual awareness who appreciate information and possibilities, and who can adapt to changes easily. Bison are courageous, decisive, assertive and active people who are quick to act and who cannot take “no” for an answer. What a team we make!

The leadership class made us realize that we are all leaders with strong characteristics. We will get to practice these skills during our management experience through July. We learned that “if you push the string, it will go nowhere. But, if you pull it, it will follow you!” Meaning, if you push people, you can be the boss. If you lead them, you are an effective leader. 

Happy Volley!

Our first adventure at Penn State began with a volleyball conference of over 3,000 middle school- high school aged girls, along with their parents, called Happy Volley. Our help was a necessity considering the mass amount of hungry people needing to be fed in the dining hall. With a little moral support and much needed coffee, we all forced ourselves to roll out of bed around 4am and be to the dining hall by 4:30 to start preparing for breakfast and for lunch shortly after. This conference lasted three days, and each day we were able to rotate through various positions including, but not limited to: working with the cooks, serving in the front, restocking the salad bar, bussing tables, and even loading and unloading the dishes in the dish room. This experience was the perfect example of how each individual position in a university dining hall plays its own specific (and much needed) role in pulling a large event like that together. We were very fortunate to have the help of other student workers and an abundance of managers all over the dining hall to point us in the right directions and help us out when we needed it the most. Seeing this kitchen and dining hall in action truly demonstrates the magnitude of the foodservice program here at Penn State.

Learning about Penn State Etc

Shortly after Happy Volley and some team building and leadership activities we had some opportunities to meet with different people and learn about their positions within the housing and food service at Penn State. First we met with the Associate Vice President of Auxiliary and Business Services and the Assistant Vice President of Housing, Food service, and Residence Life over lunch at the Nittany Lion Inn which is a sophisticated and elegant Inn located on Penn State’s campus. Along with giving us a warm and exciting welcome they explained to us their roles in food services and their job descriptions. They also gave us much advice on how to be successful in University food service as well as many tools to help us be successful in life and at any job. Next we met with the Assistant Vice President of Auxiliary and Business Services and within a few hours he taught us how to read and create a financial report. He also taught us how to budget for events. Next we meet a Manager within Food services who taught us all about Penn State’s customer service motto and other ways to develop great customer service. Then we meet with an Executive Chief who taught us all about proper ways to hold a knife and the art of cutting foods and different ways and designs to cut food. We learned this through hands on demonstration and were able to all make a swan out of our apples! Within a few short days we have meet many people within Penn State food services and have experienced a warm welcome from everyone. They have all been so eager to help us and teach us as much as they can while we are here.

Penn State NACUFS Invasion

The dream team: Angela, Brittany, Jessica and Will have arrived at Penn State for the summer and of course we’re all pretty excited to be here! We’ve arrived from Tennessee, Iowa, California, and South Carolina respectively so we bring a good mix to Penn State’s table. We were impressed by Penn State’s huge and beautiful campus of which boasts the second largest football stadium in the country and the number one ranked in quality campus food service in the country as well. But even more than that we’re looking forward to the experiences and opportunities that we’ll encounter in our time here at the Pennsylvania State University!