Horseshoe Resort teams up with Georgian College for unique learning opportunity

Students gain real-world experience at ski resort Horseshoe Resort teams up with Georgian College to offer students a hands-on learning opportunity.

Georgian College in Barrie partnered with Horseshoe Resort to provide a unique experiential learning opportunity for Hotel & Resort students.

The program allows 100 graduating students to fill the roles of guest and host at Horseshoe Resort for four days to enable students to put their classroom theory into practice and gain practical industry-related experience.

During the program, students will work in various roles, including cooking and serving meals, cleaning hotel guestrooms, and checking themselves in as guests. They will work under the tutelage of an Ontario four-season resort and with the support of the staff and management.

"We look at this as ideally the best job interview they're ever going to be on. We get to see them both as a guest and as a potential future employee," said the resort's director of sales, Amber Currie.

For students just weeks from graduation, the hands-on program is a practical test of all the work they've put in before diving into the workforce.

"It gives us hospitality students kind of the expectations of what our guests want and what our employers want in the future," said student Allison Chisholm.

Horseshoe Resort is hosting its summer job fair on April 29, and officials hope to see many of the students from the program in attendance.

The resort has a history of hiring Georgian College graduates who have the advantage of being familiar with the region.