CONNECTION ALUMNI NEWS - César Ritz Colleges

the pleasure to please
georges ortiz
“Teaching at César Ritz Colleges has not been a job for me; it has been a great experience
in human relations that has left me with so many joyful and happy moments.”
multiCulturalism studY
Dear Alumni,
Go back and remember your earliest experiences
as an international student at
César Ritz Colleges. Certainly you were
excited at the idea of studying in a multicultural
environment and, I’m sure, you
may have even wondered from which
countries your new friends would come.
But perhaps you also had mixed emotions:
perhaps some anxiety, confusion
or even a touch of homesickness. Now
remember how you felt a few months
later once you had settled in! What were
those factors that helped you overcome
your initial difficulties?
Because the internationalization of students
is considered the greatest issue in
high school this century (Seddoh, 2001),
institutions and researchers are throwing
themselves into relevant studies. Your
school is no exception! In effect, we
undertook research related to the intercultural
integration and adaptation of a
significant group of indigenous students
studying hospitality management and
culinary arts at César Ritz Colleges. The
Panamanian government sponsored the
study of the students.
The 23 students in Brig and 90 in Le Bouveret
coming from three Caribbean ethnic
cultures provided the perfect case study.
As part of the research, it was possible to
examine their initial difficulties when confronted
with a completely different world
and, what is more important, the factors
that helped them to understand and integrate
into this multicultural environment.
The yearlong English language programme
prepared the indigenous students from
Panama for their Higher Diploma studies.
Now that the research part of the project has
Virginia Meza with students from Panama
That’s part of how Georges Ortiz recently summed up his 14 years
of teaching at the University Centre César Ritz in Brig. According to
George, “the contacts with colleagues, students and even the top
management have all been a great human dimension to my work
and many of those became friends.” George told us that he “learnt
a lot while teaching, not only from colleagues and research, but also
from students,” and that “it is very pleasant to read and hear about
their successes all around the world and I feel proud thinking that I
might have contributed to this success in a very humble way.”
“Humble but dynamic”, “giving a lot more than class room experience”
– these are just some of the comments showing how students
have enjoyed the multiple nuances of Georges Ortiz’ personality and
competencies. The management, staff and students thank him for
his great contribution, which he describes as: “hospitality is service –
good service is the pleasure to please”.
We are proud and pleased that Georges Ortiz received the Nestlé
Pro Gastronomia Foundation Award to honor a professional who
has demonstrated excellence in training, education and developmental
work in the hospitality industry. This distinction was awarded
to him during the EuroChrie Conference 2010 in Amsterdam. With
our best wishes for his future, we hope that we will still see Georges
from time to time in our Colleges.
ended, two international conferences have
accepted this study with the subsequent
findings being presented in Euro-Chrie,
Amsterdam (25 to 28 October 2010) and
in ’Primer Encuentro de Turismo Indígena
de las Américas’ in Argentina (16 to 19
March 2011). The programme created by
the school to help in the adaptation of
these students generated some academic
and social challenges, though for us, it
was an honor to have the opportunity.
Virginia Meza MSc
Lecturer
César Ritz Colleges
Connection alumni news | February 2011 | No. 47 | 5