Students put on fundraiser for scholarship on Horseshoe
As a wave of enticing smells hit the noses of those on the Horseshoe Monday afternoon, the voice of Annette Hoover met their ears.
“We need another trash can over here!” she said.
In the final minutes before the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management’s annual Chefs on the Shoe, Hoover and her class of 58 students were bustling around, putting the final touches on tables and ensuring the chefs were ready to feed the masses.
As attendees lined up to purchase tickets, Hoover’s class gathered for a final pep talk.
“There are three things that we need to do today,” Hoover said. “Smile, help and No. 1: Every chef needs someone here as a runner.”
The students running the show are all members of Hoover’s HRTM 386 class, and they’d been working on the event all semester.
“It’s almost 60 percent of their final grade,” Hoover said. “I like to call it their final final.”
Third-year advertising and public relations student and general manager of volunteers Anna Hartnett worked to coordinate people to help with the festivities.
“We have over 80 volunteers here today,” Hartnett said. “We worked on a zero-dollar budget. Everything here is donated.”
Plans for Chefs on the Shoe started at the beginning of the semester, and since then, students have organized the participation of 23 chefs, a band and a silent auction.
“We have everyone from Lizard’s Thicket to the Marriott,” Hoover said. “Everybody will be competing for Grand Chef, first, second and third place. We also have a kids’ corner for the first time this year, which will be fun.”
Upon purchasing tickets, attendees were given access to the multitude of foods under a massive white tent in the middle of the Horseshoe. After tasting the samples, attendees voted for their favorite chef.
Once under the tent, the crowd found foods ranging from cupcakes to sliders to kabobs, with each sample only costing them one $1 ticket.
Tim Campau of Harper’s Restaurant was not aware of the competitive side of the night, but his hopes for his dishes were still high.
“I didn’t know it was a competition, but we’ll win,” he said as he plated yet another pork, pineapple and red onion skewer.
Though tensions were running high, the students in Hoover’s class had nothing but praise for their fearless leader.
“Mrs. Hoover is the best teacher at USC,” third-year tourism management student Nico Dinunzio said.
But Hoover said the event was not about her or her students; it was about who was being honored.
“Chef Jules Pernell was a chef here who passed away a few years ago,” she said. “His favorite quote was always, ‘If you’ve got time to lean, you’ve got time to clean,” and I know that he’s looking down on these students and smiling about what they are doing in his honor.”