Last day as a MSU NACUFS Intern!

Our LAST day today!!!

Woah!  I can't even begin to explain how fast these last eight weeks have gone. 

In these last few days and last week Carla, Sam and I have been working on our final project.  This consisted of planning and executing a formal dinner for 12 people.  Sam, the culinary intern, was working on the menu and all of the back of the house stuff and I was working on all of the front of the house business.  My job consisted of planning out the table setting, researching service styles, gathering all of the table settings, arranging the flowers, napkin folds, designing the invitations, designing the menus for the table, among many other tasks.  It was a lot of work but a great learning experience!  I had a lot of help from Martin, the executive chef.  He was SO helpful and I was thankful he was there to guide us with this project.  Everyone else involved with food service at MSU was helpful also.  

This is the invite that I designed for the dinner!

We had our dinner last night (7/22) and it turned out awesome!! Sam did an amazing job with the food, everyone seemed to love it.  She is an amazing cook and the work she put in developing the menu definitely showed in this dinner.  She served a bacon blue cheese salad, homemade spinach pasta with a baked chicken breast and homemade cheesecake. Carla and I were serving the dinner!

And believe me, everything tasted as good as it looks!! :)   Here are some more pictures from the evening!

 

 

This is the table setting!

Sam, Carla and I before the dinner

This was Paul's first ever selfie!

 

 

So this concludes my time as a NACUFS intern at Montana State University!  This has been one of the most amazing experiences!  I have learned more than I ever thought I would have when I started my adventures in Bozeman.  Not only did I learn so much about food service management and College and University Food Service, but also so much about myself and my capabilities. We got to meet some pretty amazing people that provided us with great career advice and so much encouragement.  I am beyond lucky to have had this experience, and I would encourage anyone who is thinking about applying to DO IT! I will never forget my eight weeks at Montana State University and I am already getting excited to come back and visit Bozeman (and I haven't even left yet)! :)

 

Thank you to everyone who has given me advice, encouragement and taught me so much at MSU.  And a special thank you to Paul Mineau, who has taught us SOOO much.  He has showed us the ropes of College and University Food Service and made us feel so welcome for the last eight weeks.   Also thank you to everyone in the NACUFS organization that puts time and energy into this internship program.  It is a great experience that I was lucky to be apart of!

 

 

Katie Olson