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Spotlight on High Impact Educational Practices: I am honored to have some of my HIEP in the spotlight on the Living Laboratory OpenLab site. Click here to see the post.

High Impact Wine Education, Blending Community, Philanthropy and Education
Making learning evident to students is valuable to their development. As a collaboration between the Julia Child Foundation, Red Hook Winery and the students in the HMGT 4997 course, Wines of the New World, we learned about wine making and blended our own wine. Here are some results!

See examples of student learning using the following links:

• Wine making team 4, 2019
• Shelf talker from 2022
• Somm Speak 2023
• Blending, Team 3, 2023

Various posts after the 2013 wine blending session were particularly thoughtful:

• Nicole’s First winery experience: see the post here
• Shows process… https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/new-world-wines-13/2013/10/24/group-5-wine-blending/
• One of the “winning” blends (white wine) and a thank you included in the reflection:
  http://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/new-world-wines-13/2013/10/21/our-experience-of-wine-blending-sunflower-bloom/

My reflection on the educational winery tour (2013):

• https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/new-world-wines-13/2013/10/21/red-hook-winery-4/#comments
• https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/new-world-wines-13/2013/10/25/photos-of-the-blending-session/

Note: this course is supported by a grant from the Julia Child Foundation. See “grants” in the scholarship section of this PARSE for more information.

The City Tech Tea Club was conceived and development over six months by two motivated students, an ambitious alumna and me as their faculty advisor. The City Tech Tea Club’s mission is to “share enthusiasm for the knowledge of tea essentials”, and that is exactly what we accomplished. As the faculty advisor to this newly formed club, I helped students establish the mission, goals and activities of the club, build an executive board, develop a marketing plan, and set expectations for meetings. Club meetings were designed to educate students on tea types, tea origins, processing, storage, history and what makes each tea unique. Club activities include the exploration of drinking tea as a social activity, and the invitation of guest speakers always keeping in mind that students attending the meetings would like to have fun while developing knowledge they can apply to their current and future professions.

As a faculty advisor, my work with students is an extension of the classroom. I mentor students through the process of recruiting members and participants, determining meeting topics, developing agenda and executing the meetings. The club leaders provide additional chances for students to hone their professional skills, they are investing in their own development while supporting their peers’ goals as well. This is special and deserves the dedication of a teaching working as a mentor.

The combination of my leadership in the beverage industry and utilization of place-based learning practices, creates a unique and effective teaching style. Recognized by Total Food Service as a Top Woman in Metro New York 2019 and 2020 and as member of Les Dames d’Escoffier since 2010, I leverage my industry leadership to help connect students with industry leaders and gain attendance to industry events like The Next Big Sip (Social Media Post Here) (HMGT 4997), meet and greets and tours of the Knickerbocker Hotel’s public and private spaces (HMGT1101), private tours of Shake Shack Innovation Kitchen (HMGT1101), and private marketing and coffee lessons at Brooklyn Roasting Company (HMGT1101).

The Next Big Sip was a hit.

Note taking is so important during the scientific process and palate fatigue can be exhausting. So, it is possible that you presented the wrong blend but it is also possible that after tasting so much wine that your palate was playing tricks on you. Either way, you conducted the process with academic integrity and teamwork. Well done.