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welcome to the workforce connection my name is Rob Mellion
I'm your host the workforce connection
is a partnership between Bristol Community College
Fall River community television and the Fall River Area Chamber of Commerce
and industry we talk about all different issues
that relate to the workforce it is a show for
employers for employees and for those who want to be employed
it is also a great show for students and that's why some through
Bristol Community College this is actually our first
episode of the workforce connection and we have great guest's and a
great topic for this frist show I want to
welcome John Caressimo who is the
director for this new catch Institute
and we also have Bill Berardi who is the dean
for business and information management at Bristol Community College
so this is this
catch Institute is big and I think it's a great first show
that we're having here what
for our listeners and viewers what
is the catch Institute the catch institute is basically
an umbrella term that is used for the
to casino tourism hospitality
and culinary arts programs basically what we've done
years we have incorporated those programs
into one Institute in order to help to develop
the programs especially the casino and hospitality programs
the culinary arts program has been around at Bristol Community College since 1985
and it began as a one-year certificate program and
12-13 years ago it became a two-year associate degree program and since
the start of the associate degree program
it developed and currently now when we start off with seven students in 1985
and currently we have something like a 110 students in the program
the casino program
is relatively new having been formulated about six or seven years ago
and hospitality programs have been around for a number is also at the
college
however with the incorporation other three programs together under one
Institute the
and which by the way was was instituted by our president Jack Sprague of
from another institution that he worked at previous to coming to BCC
so the thought is is that using the model of the culinary arts program
we will be able to grow the number of students now
in the hospitality programs and in the casino programs
it's really interesting I its I personally this is my first experience
in learning
of how all these various
programs being merged together I
I would have thought myself about casinos
and culinary being blended together or casinos and hospitality but
when you to think about it at the macro-level it absolutely
does make sense can we talk a lil bit though
about the culinary department because I've tell you I've I benefit from
from you work product it is I
it is a superb department at Bristol Community college I think a lot of people do
a recognize what to do but maybe we should just take a moment to
to talk about the culinary Department and the programming that goes under
their
you're within within the culinary arts program which is the encompassing
umbrella and that's the name of the
degree so say applied Science in culinary arts merely culinary arts
major and we have a baking and pastry arts major show student
can come to Bristol and study I just stritly culinary arts
or baking and pastry arts both have our programs encompass
a a number of general education degrees and the
then the purpose of the General Education courses within degree
is to make the student an educated student we are not only
educating them how to be chefs and pastry chef but we also are educating
them so that they can make their way in the world
so that's the reason for the general education sounds like it very's the workplace
it certainly does and
then within the culinary program there they are all the courses expect to find
underneath that umbrella
front the house courses which involve table service one of our most popular
courses are
tables side cooking class where we have a dinner every year
and limited by the size of the Grady 90 we can only sell 36 tickets to each
seating
and needless to say those tickets sell out very I make more enemies with that
program than anything else I understand inability of the chamber commerce I told
understand
I yes and then within the baking program
are we mirror a lot of the courses now we have essential courses and then we
have courses with an
with decorating & cakes and pastries and so on so many expect to find within the
the walls of a culinary and a baking programme and like I said I've benefited
from your work product
I some great meals have come out of that
Department and I guess a good question
you sort of began answering it John
how is this new catch Institute designed
to you meet the needs of today's industry demands
well there there are a number of things that we're going to attempt to do we
have to understand that
catch institute is a brand new concept so basically what I've been doing this
summer
is is laying ground work the culinary is an established program so my
efforts are going to be are geared towards
modeling the hospitality modeling the tourism
& Casino program on the culinary arts program
and that basically we're going on I'm going to attempt to achieve by
obviously going out to the schools and schools need to be aware of the program
haha so this next year we're going to spend
with the faculty taking a look at the course is revising the courses
adding courses that are that are pertinent to the program
and bringing bringing the program up to
2013 2014 so my assumption is that this will really begin to taking off in the
fall of 2014
them what we're gonna do we're going to be branded
the nice in that sounds like a harsh concept but the culinary students
are immediately recognizable you see a culinary student in uniform you
recognize them
so my goal is to make sure that when you see a hospitality student you recognize
them by the uniform that you wearing
when you see a casino student you recognize him or her by the uniform that
they're wearing
symbolic this is this is going to be to create a cohort
among the culinary students the casino students and hospitality and tourism
students
and develop a camaraderie that right now doesn't
doesn't exist the other thing when we look to doing is block scheduling right
now the
casino and hospitality courses are pretty much all over the
schedule so if we block schedules on that will put them pretty much on the same
classes and traveling through
there to a three-year education doesn't like traditional college
this seems like this is way but but it seems a little bit
though you're really modeling I mean listening to you and your modeling
what's happening in the workplace particular was happening in the region
I with the developing in hospitality if I can just step in here
essentially what John is saying everything it
that he talked about is true but we're also trying to give them a sense of
professionalism
they go out into the work force and this is the way they're going to be dressing
and we want them to understand this part of the catch Institute
that they are professionals and they'll start dressing that way
before they get into the workforce so when they do get that job
it's something that is natural to them so let's talk about the
the elephant in the room per say what is happening
regionally and statewide that is driving
the development of the catch institute that it's easy question of course
first of all with
the seriousness of the state in approaching the casino question
hopefully the casino licenses will be awarded early to mid next year
previous to that the the students didn't see the need
for the job in front or didn't see the availability of the job
they will have to travel to Twin River Foxwoods or
Atlantic City or Vegas now it would be pretty much within there
area on the other thing is the
are renewed and and invigorating interest
in the southeastern Massachusetts area
are for hospitality and tourism soul with
hospitality and tourism is getting a lot of play from the communities
it's basically free advertisement for us if the if the communities are saying
we're looking to build hospitality and tourism
and hospitality and tourism grows as a result of that
you're gonna need workers for that and every body within the catch
Institute there for every person within that Institute their opposition's
whether they are mean culinary baking
hospitality tourism whether they're in retail whether they're in computers
so anything like that will I can tell you that hospitality and tourism
is the third largest industrial segment
it Massachusetts and growing grown
and it is very much growing here in the South Coast region
I know this without any question being on the
CVV bored the Center
the Center I should say the convention center burrow
to many acronyms around here
but there are definitely trends that are coming in here is sounds like you guys
are ahead of the curve
well as you know we've sat on a couple panels
together the BCC has taken an active role
as far as tourism and hospitality concerned here in the city of Fall River
in New Bedford for that matter and we want to be a partner with the city
to develop tourism and hospitality
and to make Fall River and New Bedford
to known to the people who
and in this region that there is
a jewel here that there are things for people to do
here and to enjoy and to
make a vacation out of so we're on board with that
you know a sidebar to all this is that I'm talking with
rail road company that is interested in Orient Express
style trip across the South Coast region
you and you know will be dining will be sleeping
you associate with that too we'll talk about attractions
but talking but yeah you never know
anything goes these days so we're gonna come to our first break in a moment here
but before we do
what I to students should be looking at the offerings by the catch is that it
basically any type of student obviously those students who
know who believe that they want to be involved in culinary baking
hospitality tourism and casino but
there's a whole host of other area's that
well qualified students to work in these areas and they don't even realize that
they are qualified
say for argument's sake if a student has been involved in retailing
in your high school certain with casinos come retail
outlets if they've been involved in computer studies for two or three years
in high school
there wasn't anything that does not use computers that's within the catch institute
to my job our job is going to be too
informs the student of what we have and help them to make the connection as to how
they qualify
and how they are really preparing themselves to be
to enter these fields what's really interesting
we're going to take a break when we come back we're gonna talk a lot more with
Bill Berardi we're gonna get into the show here I
because eventually you're going to have a casino's and
about the casino portion this cuz I know that you've
for example gone before serp head and a number of other organizations to talk
about
the offer is here at Bristol Community College in how you're working with the
state to prepare people for this field
so we are going to take that break and when we come back to be a lot more in the
workforce connection
with our guests and please stay tuned
thanks
music:
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the mere fact that the class of 2013 is here celebrating
our graduation today means we have
all done something proactively to insure that we are able to compete
all commencement is, isa fancy word for beginning you've been enriched by what
you've been taught at this place
your loved by the family and friends help this day mean so much to me
to me it means that I know now that I can be successfully
in college I can move on to a four year university from BCC
I can excel here I can be honer student and I can be everything that I wanna be
my name's Brandi Evans and I'm from Taunton MA I am
completing the general studies degree program and I also
got a certificate in paralegal studies and a certificate in global leadership
BCC was my choice because I like the campus and I like that they had online
classes and evening
classes and that I could work around my schedule on still make it through
school while I tend to my family I have a good support system
from my family even my little ones my family is so excited because
be waited for me to do this in some non-traditional student I'm
like just pumped about today graduations you made it
Brandi Evans
and paralegal studies certificate and global leadership
when I started at BCC my expectations were to
come here go to class and leave but it didn't work out like that
actually I ended up meeting a lot of great people and and ended up joining alot of programs and I'm going to Roger
Williams University
from here to study legal studies and
we'll see what happens after that
welcome back to the workforce connection my name is Rob Mellion and I'm your
host
we have Bill Berardi and John Caressimo
and we are talking about the catch Institute
and have been the first segment we were really outlining what the catch
Institute is and we were talking about the culinary and hospitality side but we
haven't spent much time talking about the gaming side
of the catch Institute and I think the first question is what are
someone the gaming programs you could be doing at the catch is that it
well what we we do have a degree program in
casino operations and management but aside from that that's going to give the
students the
the basics and how a casino operates
loss prevention home accounting marketing and things of that nature
but as far as gaming itself is concerned we're going to
um.. we're preparing for um...
teaching the students that that graduate from that program
um.. the ability to deal two
games now a game being
blackjack or poker roulette
or the craps table so
the student will pick what two that they want so upon graduation
will get their certificate there degree plus
a certificate in being able to deal two games now essentially what that'll do is
they can bring that to a casino and say
I've been trained have like an interview and then they'll
the casino will take a them in and give them a test
essentially put it behind a table and see how they do
well is very good I mean I'd
person I haven't heard a mean I know that their trade schools that have done some
of this stuff but
not seen a community college actually had a program in
casino gaming are mixed in with hospitality
correct bring in Bristol Community College is the only college right now
that actually has the equipment
in order to train the students on how to deal
so we won't have to send them anywhere they can
take the lab to take the training right here at Bristol Community College we
have five
blackjack tables we have
from roulette table we have the craps table we have the cards we have the shufflers
owners we have the dice
we have the sticks you we have the chips you name it
whenever you see in a casino we have so
those now labs are going to be set up and and
now we have right now an instructor who
dealt at Foxwoods for five years
and and he will be the instructor for them bill your bring up a very good
you're listening to you bring up a very good issue
you who was teaching some of this coursework
as I say we do have an instructor who is a professor who was a professional
dealer at Foxwoods
and he initially will be training the students that we have
as the program's grow were gonna need more in and he obviously has contacts in the
casino industry
that he can bring and there's also a
dealer Institute
in Attleboro who we're talking with and they said that they would come
when we need additional dealers and assist us in
in that so we have backup for when the program will
that leads to another question I have is so if you're somebody who is listening to
this program and
attleboro or taunton you what
is gonna be offered for them or are they gonna be needing to come to the
Fall River campus well I think for the big stuff the program to come to the fall River
campus
for right now that's what will happen again as the program grows and we can
expand and put labs
in the other campuses that we have then we will
venture to do that as well and that also opens up
the non-credit side if
someone is unemployed and they say hey I wanna
work in a casino and I want to learn how to
deal a game we're also going to open this up on a non-credit side where
they can get the number of hours to get a non credit certificate
from a saying I am ready for you to test me
mister casino and give me a shot
it's really interesting so for the companies that are watching the show
how can they partner or how should they be looking to partner
with the catch institute that it what part of what John is going to be doing along with
some of our faculty
he is getting in touch with some of these companies and say hey we have
these programs
in retail management and hospitality and hotel
motel management some other courses
the where developing in there in a program our event planning
many companies need event planners for
for their profession so
we have the programs available for them
to participate and what we have to offer
it's very interesting for example Chamber of Commerce many chambers
have a director of events and sometimes they have two people work on events together
and sometimes it's your
communications person and events planner
you're right a lot of nonprofits for example and a lot of major companies I
don't know what
bank institution doesn't have a events person
as well it's interest in that your on this
you know it i guess its the vision you know
the college saw some of this potential
here and took two steps to
create these programs maybe a little ahead of the time
but now now we are ready to go
when summer the other community colleges are
still looking I have to tell you i think that's a trend that Bristol Community
College
I think you know we're talking right now about the
catch instatute the two but in up incoming it
episode above the program will be talking with
the folks behind the workforce institute the workforce education institute talk about
you
jumping ahead of time
yeah I see this all across the board with Bristol Community College a
it seems like while other people are
I sitting on what they have you guys are building infrastructure
this infrastructure that looks to be
usable for the next 15-20 thirty years
it's really it's very impressive to to observe
and to be partnering with you guys well thank you and I the college's worked
to to develop is okay just sitting on your laurels here you're
jump remover and with the building of these i mean
there's multiple Institute center being establish that launched
I'm right now this year when is the
catch instutue technically online
sure when a this basically we will be doing this year's
this we're looking at this as the planning your so what we're
what will be happening is we're looking to get the word out we're looking to get
the
the information out on it we're looking to create a lot in this information also
we're also looking to our modify some of the existing programs were look into
on cross-pollinate the programs with some
some culinary classes within the hospitality some hospitality courses
within the culinary
add some new current courses to the casino program
so this process is going to take a good solid year
once that happens than currently we've got in the works without a planting date
for
mid-october for a career in mid-october
of 14 for a career day
so obviously will be accepting students for the fall of October
but this really will not get rolling on till the fall of 16
well will be branding we'll have our uniforms will have everything in place
so it is it a lengthy process but we're doing
we're doing a lot more biting off a lot so it really
with said with that said I mean you talking about
the umbrella but thats but saying what
you stated it sounds mean the programming is there
so students shouldn't be just sitting right now thinking on going to hold off the
till next year
absolutely not students students can be involved obviously the culinary
arts program
there'll be some changes made but nothing major within the
casino program within the tourism program again there'll be some changes
made but students can certainly jump in
and possibly by the time we are ready they may be completing their final year
so the way we work at the college if we do change program requirements
the students are grandfathered in in
the courses that when they signed up for the program
so really would not affect the students who come in
earlier so this will only affect new students going forward once the changes
are implemented
in John did receive an email from a young lady who
hope so the press release that came from
the community colleges
was on role that Massasoit
and she left Massasoit and came here to jump into that this
how it goes casino program so
the word is out and where starting to get
I know the word is out i'm hearing it on the street every single day
I this really exciting how long
typically does it take for student on a degree or a certificate
through the catche instatute the two programming
I'm is there a plan to this that that depends on
the students qualifications when they come in all the students are assessed
tested in reading writing arithmetic and algebra skills
and those students who need to take developmental courses will basically
spend the the
first semester first two semesters in
catching up to speed on their developmental courses which means
they'll be here
minimum of three years the average student at BCC
take probably around three three years three and a half years to get through
the magarity of the program's so
again that leads to you know if you're interested in getting into the
hospitality field or culinary fielder's really sounds like you're viewing at the
hospitality field you were going into the culinary field
correct and the gaming feel too do it now
I really love the fact that it's all blending together and
that somebody in we just talked to scrap the tailender the show here
but you talk about the fact that or
this trend where if you're in the culinary program
that you may want to take something that comes out of the
the casino side of it or the hospitality side of it
well I I think it's very important that
today students need more than training in their specific field
they need to have some cross training involved because
people change jobs very frequently people are downsized businesses closed
so if we train the culinary students and we give them some management courses
they're going to be ready to leave them move up within the contrary feel
or move over into the management side I is my firm belief that people in the
hospitality business if they're going to be managing an operation
certainly should have a sanitation certificate so that when they walked
around their property they know what's safe from what is not safe
they should certainly have a certificate in mixology that we offer within the
culinary
so that they know and had they know how to operate a bar oversee a bar
so there are a number of things within each of the programs that
to
each of the other programs so II
I do it I think this is remarkable
how do people get in touch with the catch Institute what we finally got a phone
so we we have a a brand new phone then call the college number
508 678 2811 and the new extensions
2284 or they can dial direct
774-357-2284 extention
2284 and they'll reach to catch Institute phone directly
i think this has been really interesting I think it's been a great first show for the
workforce
connection in the future you'll be seeing many other shows that are gonna
be
about all different areas we will bring in people who are seeking employment
as well
talk about skills that they need in the workforce
going forword here I want thank our guests
John and Bill thank you so much just been really interesting weekend
and I can't wait to hear more from the catch institute
and thanks for watching night at that point we will or you'll be back on
I will top a success stories so thanks for watching
be workforce connection