When it comes to education, learning in a classroom usually pales in comparison to learning on the job. Luckily, hospitality students at the College of DuPage in west suburban Chicago will have the rare opportunity to do both, as the community college recently opened a new 60,000-square-foot Culinary and Hospitality Center that combines academic learning with hands-on training for students in the school's restaurant and hospitality management programs.
Located on the school's Glen Ellyn, Ill., campus, the Culinary and Hospitality Center includes a six-room boutique hotel, a fine-dining restaurant and a casual dining room — all run entirely or in part by students, who will have the opportunity to serve real guests — as well as a large conference space for meetings and events, which may come in handy for students in the school's Travel, Tourism and Event Planning program.
"With this new center, we follow yet another idea, one which will provide the physical facilities to match the imagination and heart of these programs," Kathy Wessel, chairman of the College of DuPage Board of Trustees, said in May 2010, when construction began on the facility. "It will offer unparalleled opportunities for hands-on learning."
The Culinary and Hospitality Center opened for the fall term in August and intends to become the first LEED-certified facility of its kind in the country. Its 150-seat fine-dining restaurant, Waterleaf, is run by non-student staff and chefs, but offers internship opportunities to students. Its casual dining room, on the other hand, called The Wheat Cafe, is entirely student-run. The hotel, The Inn at Water's Edge, will offer student internships but is run full-time by Jamie Fredericks, a College of DuPage graduate who previously spent 11 years as an employee and manager at a Marriott hotel in nearby St. Charles, Ill.
For more information about the Culinary and Hospitality Center at the College of DuPage, visit the school's website.