The Serranía School held last month in September the Second Graduation of General Technicians in Hospitality Services in the city of Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.
The graduating students come from various rural Dominican and Haitian villages. Over a period of two years, these students have been trained in this vocational career supplemented with two more months of experience in various hotels and restaurants: in the city of Santo Domingo, in the hotels V Centenario Hotel and Ambassador, and the Arrozsal restaurant, and in the city of Constanta, at the Hotel Constanza. Currently they are returning to their communities with the appropriate training to enter the labor market as cooks, bakers, dry cleaners, receptionists, waitresses, housekeepers, etc. It is rewarding to see that an educational project that takes place in one part of the country has a direct benefit beyond the country, hitting the Dominican Republic, and expanding its borders to the Republic of Haiti.
Giving these young people a chance to study has been made possible by grants awarded and managed by Indesco through local companies and grants of international entities, including the Board of Castile and Leon, The Opec Fund for International Development (OFID), FPSC, American Initiatives and Prodean, among others.
Among the extraordinary activities of last semester, the students moved to the city of Santo Domingo to see the facilities and see in situ operation of restaurants Creole and international food, the Restaurant and Restaurant Arrozsal Higüero, and a commercial laundry, the L’Oscar cleaners. Mr. Luis Marino López, owner of these companies, gave the students a class on “Guidelines for proper entrance in the labor market”.
Serranía, besides these studies for resident students, provides training in all areas of hospitality to staff of companies and institutions that request it, attracted by the quality of the proposed training provided at its headquarters. In this sense, it has offered courses to staff of the ecotourism Clusters of Jarabacoa and Constanza, hotel sector employees and even students and teachers of hospitality and tourism in other regions.
In its work as a promoter of social welfare, this year Serranía has provided training in the rural community of Piedra Blanca, and plans to reach out to other communities such as Hatillo and Los Higos, providing these people, through short courses in cooking and baking, and providing self-worth and self-employment workshops, a possible means of livelihood to improve their low income.
Promoting values is also an important objective in the teaching of Serranía, and to achieve this it has included in its programming activities and workshops such as “The Seven Pillars of spousal communication” and “How to develop self-esteem of the children in the family” taught by subject specialists and aimed at different pairs of cities near its headquarters. Furthermore, to promote education of their students, the school organized the activity “Art Appreciation”with the Spanish-born painter Magdalena “Pichu” Quezada.
Serranía goes forward fulfilling its goal: “Building a new culture of service and work as a means of promoting personal and social values, empowering women to make sense of professionalism and efficiency with the services of the industry hospitality.”