Alexis McLean seems destined for a career in the hospitality industry. When asked what she likes about HHS, she immediately mentions the “job-training skills” offered in the curriculum. She provides a specific example of this from her Lodging Management Program class: “In the hotel industry they have the night auditor position, and we actually practice what this person does.” She also mentions the soft skills that she has developed, such as punctuality and making eye contact with people.

For the second summer in a row, Alexis has practiced what she learns in the classroom in the real world by interviewing for a school-sponsored internship at an area hotel. Last year, she worked at the Courtyard Washington Capitol Hill. The best part, she says, was that she was “able to rotate through three areas of the hotel: housekeeping, food and beverage, and front desk.”

In the fall of her senior year, Alexis is looking forward to getting back to academics. She says that the teachers really care about the students, and she enjoys the one-on-one attention that teachers provide. “In middle school, my class had thirty or thirty-two students, but now there are half as many.”