Stochl Hall Reopens for Tourism Training  

The Belize Tourism Board and St. John’s College have signed a partnership to establish the Elevate Training Institute, a national hospitality training center. The institute will offer hands-on training in culinary arts, hospitality management, customer service, tour guiding and other specialized fields. The partnership is aimed at raising service standards and preparing Belizeans for internationally recognized careers in tourism. News Five’s Britney Gordon reports.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

The Belize Tourism Board and St. John’s College signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the Elevate Training Institute at Stochl Hall in Belize City. The historic building has sat largely unused for more than a decade. It will now be used to train chefs, hospitality professionals and tourism workers. Director of Tourism Evan Tillett says the institute will help improve service standards across Belize’s tourism industry.

 

Evan Tillett, Director of Tourism, Belize Tourism Board

“It allows us to upscale the service that we offer from different levels in the tourism sector. This is something that we’ve been working on for quite, for a number of years to get it to this point today. We have trainings that are already going forward. But this now gives us that brick and mortar presence so that we can continue to train and develop the tourism sector.”

 

 The institute will offer training in areas such as front desk operations, tour guiding and other hospitality specialties. A teaching kitchen will be the centerpiece of its culinary program. St. John’s College President Mirtha Peralta says the partnership will bring the long-closed Stochl Hall back into use and expand opportunities for students and the wider public.

 

Mirtha Peralta, President, Saint John’s College

“That building has been closed for the last fifteen years. And so we are very happy that we are reopening the building and having a program that is going to be something different for our students. Father Stochl believed in giving students an opportunity, giving students a second chance. That building many years ago was the extension building, and we used to offer programs to students that did not have the opportunity to graduate from high school.  And so it closed in 2011, and so fifteen years later we’re opening it to provide a different kind of opportunity for our students.”

 

St. John’s College’s hospitality program, which spans high school to university level, currently serves about 60 junior college students. The program is expected to grow because of the new training institute.

 

Evan Tillett
“We have international trainers. Like for instance, you saw the chefs that were here. They handle the culinary side. But we also work with the American Hotel Education and Lodging Institute, which also provides the training from customer service to supervisory training. And we have also invested in train the trainer program, so that you now have Belizeans that will be training, and they are certified at the levels in terms of the certification that we will offer.”

 

The Elevate Training Institute is expected to cost approximately seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars and the BTB is paying for it. Graduates will earn internationally recognized certifications through partners such as the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute and the American Culinary Federation. The certifications will allow them to pursue further studies or jobs in Belize and abroad.  Britney Gordon for News Five.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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