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!

The Wilderness Behind the Apartment

It's amazing what you can find just outside the door of your own apartment. This is the Moss Sanctuary a beautiful nature trail leading to a quaint little pond behind our apartment (waterfall included). While exploring we came across a huge bull frog and various other creatures native to the north eastern region. After working indoors all day on a beautiful day like this it is quite refreshing to come across this gem.

Inventory Control

While helping an Inventory Control Assistant (ICA) we experienced just how important it is to know your order and be observant. Inventory control is about keeping track of what you have, what you need, and what's coming in during deliveries. We were paired up with Jason Reynolds who, with a keen eye spotted this problem. Two packages of diced tomatoes were ordered for stock and according to the label on the package these raspberries are diced tomatoes. Needless to say those raspberries were sent back to be relabeled and shipped to someone who really needed them. Great Job Jason =).

Interested in more UCONN adventures visit our blog http://nacufsinternshipuconn2011.blogspot.com/

Fabulous KAs

So for week number uno we got to do quite a bit. As you can see by our beautiful uniforms we got to help with salad prep, dishes, and customer service as KA's (kitchen assistants) in south dining hall. We jumped right in and got our hands dirty--literally. We learned all about the dish system and the secret techniques of really getting the nasty gunk off the pans (thanks Jose!) The salad ladies taught us about presentation and cutting techniques--check out the picture of the beautiful salad bar :)

Getting in the Spirit of UCONN and NACUFS

Our first week at the University of Connecticut was awesome. We're just getting into the swing of things on this gianormous campus. This week we explored the inners of campus and discovered tradition behind the painted rock. In spirit with being here at UCONN we found it most appropriate to leave our mark on this iconic boulder. YAY UCONN!!!

Welcome!

Hello!

I’d like to introduce you to the NACUFS Food Management Interns blog for 2011!

This blog is a space where interns can share their experiences at their host school – both their official work duties as well as events outside of official duties. This blog then becomes a record of the summer, which can be shared with friends, family, professors, other interns, host coordinators, potential employers, future hosts and future interns!

Interns: This is an official record of your internship. We hope that you’ll share the things that you are doing both at work and outside of work. Pictures are great – so take some and share them with the rest of us! We also hope that you’ll read and comment on the entries from other schools. Our goal is to create a community among interns who are not only learning from their hosts, but also from each other. You’ll need to have permission from your host school to author posts (we don’t want any hosts to be surprised that you are sharing their programs with others!), but even if you choose not to write posts, we hope that you’ll participate by reading and commenting often. Please share your experience honestly and openly, but this is a professional space- this is not an area for you to air any problems you have with the host school. If you feel that your goals for your internship are not being met, it is your responsibility to address those concerns with the internship coordinator, and work to have the best summer ever! Also remember that this is an open forum – anyone wandering around ye olde internetz can read it. For that reason, you’ll want to keep any private information about yourself or your host to yourself. Please tag your entries with your host school name.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this summer... are you?