Salt School graduates 110 in hospitality training course
Bowd: I’ve learned as much about Asbury Park as all of our graduates today have learned about hotels
Larhea Childress, a 15-year-old Asbury Park High School student readying for her first job, graduated Saturday morning from the SALT school.
“The hospitality industry is one of the largest things that helps people on a daily basis,” Childress said after receiving her diploma.
As part of the school district’s Career and College Readiness program, Childress and 14 other high school students attended the 10-week free course administered by The Asbury’s David Bowd. [The Asbury is the new hotel in the former Salvation Army building scheduled to open next month in the waterfront redevelopment zone. Bowd’s hotel management company will run the hotel which is owned by waterfront redeveloper iStar.]
The first of its kind, for the city and for Bowd, the course offered 150 out of 300 applicants of all ages a tutorial on the service industry.
A result of the governing body’s push for workforce development, waterfront redeveloper iStar’s response to the initiative, and the internationally experienced hotelier’s vision, the course featured a lineup of guest speakers; all industry professionals at the top of their fields.
“It’s been completely groundbreaking for us,” said Bowd, pictured above right with Mayor John Moor and Council members Amy Quinn and Yvonne Clayton. “I will never open a hotel the same way again. We’ve learned a lot about the neighborhood. We’ve learned about what the hotel should be and therefore what it is going to be.”
Bowd said the students readily shared their own connections to the city, lending invaluable insight into its history and connection to music.
“It taught us that the hotel should feel like ‘this’ or the grab and go should feel like ‘this,” he said. “I’ve learned as much about Asbury Park as all of our graduates today have learned about hotels.”
On Saturday morning, 110 students received their SALT school diplomas. Final interviews were done to fill the 60 open posts at the hotel – set to open May 26. Most positions will be full time in season but many are also year round positions, Bowd said.
And while the graduates, at the time of graduation, had yet to learn whether they would become part of the SALT team, 90 percent of the new hires will be Asbury Park and Neptune residents, Bowd said. The jobs will range from housekeeping and front desk posts to bar, events, movie theatre ushers and line chefs.
For Barbara Miller, 52, of Belmar, it was an opportunity to venture into a new career path.
“My background is in Corporate Human Resources,” she said. “I wanted a change and I’d always wanted to work in a hotel.”
Like many of the applicants, social media was her path to the eventual graduation. Miller went on line, filled out an application, and became connected with Bowd’s group through Facebook.
The thing she takes away from the course is that you have to have the attitude and train for the skill, she said.
“It was very motivational,” she said of the course. “I felt empowered. The training was educational and you could tell that a lot of thought and knowledge was put into it.”
Trisha Smith, 19, of Asbury Park said she attended the course as a vehicle to venture into a new experience and open her mind to new and different opportunities.
“I wanted to know what is up and coming in Asbury Park,” she said.
What resulted was a welcoming and fun experience, she said.
“We really became a family through this experience,” she said. “There was a strong sense of community.
When asked what she takes away from this experience, Smith said, “If you really want to do something you should go after it. You have to strive for what you want. The speakers all spoke of how they got to the top of their fields by maintaining their connections and not burning any bridges.”
Anthony DiBenedetto, 52, said he moved to the city over three years ago.
“This is where I plan to be,” the former Brooklyn native and Information Technology employee said. “I was first introduced to the City in the 1980s. I’ve been watching the evolution, like the rest, and now I think it’s ready to burst. I can’t wait for the hotel opening – I feel like it’s going to be the crown.”
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