For the second year in a row, the Beverly Hills High School (BHHS) Career Academy has provided opportunities for students enrolled in career education classes in the field of hospitality. The work-based learning experience allows students to meet and shadow professionals from partnering hotels such as L’Ermitage Beverly Hills, the Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel, the Beverly Hilton, The Maybourne Beverly Hills, the Peninsula Beverly Hills and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills. The year-long program includes six hotel visits and at least six workshops at BHHS held the following day, where students give informal presentations on what they learned that week or participate in workshops. The program, which is open to 10th, 11th, and 12th-grade students, has about 38 students currently enrolled.
“Providing pathways and academies at BHHS is essential to bridging the gap between classroom learning and real-world career experiences,” Dr. Dustin Seemann, Assistant Superintendent of Education Services, told the Courier. “These programs offer students invaluable exposure to fields and industries that can’t be fully replicated within school walls, helping them make informed choices about their future. By immersing students in professional environments like our hospitality industry in Beverly Hills, we empower them to enter the college application process with clarity and confidence, equipped to pursue paths that align with their true interests and aspirations.”
The early success of the Career Academy is notable. One BHHS graduate who was enrolled in the program last year attended a job fair at L’Ermitage over the summer and was already familiar with the hiring staff. “They ended up hiring him out of high school, which was his dream, to work full time in the hospitality industry before going off to college,” Cindy Dubin, Coordinator of Career Technical Education at BHHS, told the Courier.
“The host hotels are amazing,” Dubin told the Courier. The hotels feature a different department each month, ranging from food and beverage, business and marketing, finance, housekeeping, security, engineering and others. “So, it’s just to hear how people ended up doing what they’re doing, and if you’re dedicated, work hard and are open-minded, you just never know where your talents will bring you.”
After a representative from Les Roche, a leading hospitality school in Europe, came to speak to career classes at BHHS last year and learned about the new program, she wanted to get involved too. As a result, Les Roches offered one Career Academy student a scholarship to attend one of their teen business hotel hospitality programs over the summer in Switzerland and provided $1,000 toward airfare. “And now, because of that school doing it, other schools and colleges are hearing about it and wanting to support the program and encourage kids,” Dubin said.
Students rotate so they can experience a workday at each of the hotels at least once. This year, the program features signature events for returning students. “I wanted to have something more enhanced for them, so I’ve asked the hotels to give us events. It can be an afternoon tea; it can be a wedding for 500, and they will take one to three students who can then come shadow or observe things in motion.” A few weeks ago, L’Ermitage had students working as lobby greeters for a ribbon cutting of their new restaurant, Costa Covo Osteria.
Last year, three students had the opportunity to shadow staff at the Beverly Wilshire as they were setting up for conferences and banquets.
Students in the Career Academy must wear a uniform that includes a black blazer with a logo and either black dress shoes, new white tennis shoes or clean black tennis shoes with no graphics. “If they show up at the bus and they’re not in the proper attire, they can’t go,” Dubin said. “There are just so many life lessons and it’s about being confident inside and out. This repetitive interaction with professionals is just such a direct way to help make that happen.”
