Through a partnership between the Hyatt Downtown and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Florida, a group of high school students gained perspective on what it's like to work in the hospitality industry.
At the same time, some of the staff at the 963-room hotel along the Northbank Riverwalk had the opportunity to mentor a young person.
Twenty-one sophomores from Wolfson High School visited the hotel once a month during the school year accompanied by a teacher.
The students spent about 45 minutes learning about a hotel department on each visit and then spent the rest of the morning paired with a mentor to see what it's like to work at the Hyatt.
Before they returned to school, mentees had lunch and shared school and career goals with their mentors.
The program, "Beyond School Walls," is an initiative of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Florida.
The program was initiated in 2006 by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Pennsylvania.
In 2010, the local organization partnered with Comcast to offer the opportunity to students at Sandalwood High School.
Since then, the program has expanded to include several local firms whose employees are paired with students.
The Hyatt joined Comcast, Haskell, Mayo Clinic, JPMorgan Chase and the Jacksonville Port Authority as a workplace mentoring partner with the organization.
"We encourage more local companies to volunteer for Beyond School Walls so we can continue to motivate and empower our youth," said Warren Grymes, organization CEO.
Hyatt General Manager Dan King said the first-year phase of the program, which went into recess last week, was such a success he hopes it can become a long-term experience that can take the students from sophomores through their senior year in high school.
"Friday, we all said goodbye for the summer. We hope it was as rewarding for the students as it was for our staff. We plan to start again in the fall," King said.
He said the program fit with "Hyatt Thrive," the worldwide hotel operation's corporate social responsibility platform.
"Our team is dedicated to service, including within our community and to our guests," said King.
It will be years before it is known whether the hotel mentoring experience will have a career impact on the students, but King said he wouldn't be surprised if it did.
"I think we found some future hospitality executives," he said.
(904) 356-2466
Facebook.com/jaxdailyrecord