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!

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!!!