UMB and Promise Heights Students Take a Tasteful Course in Etiquette
Students from Renaissance Academy High School and staff including Promise Heights College and Career Coordinator, Shirley Green (second to the left) and Promise Heights Director, Bronwyn Mayden (third to the left) gather for a group photo following the etiquette dinner at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus Center.
The etiquette dinner table gathering invites students from Renaissance Academy High School and the University of Maryland to include good tables manners on their path to success.
Three students from Renaissance Academy High School cool their soup. French onion soup was the first course of a four-course etiquette dinner at the SMC Campus Center, U of Maryland.
Five forks. One dinner fork, a dessert fork, another for fish, a cocktail fork, another for salad, and four knives. Each with a specific purpose. Also, a position for each napkin, glass, and utensil to signify to the wait-staff if you were finished eating or simply resting. Fine dining can seem daunting but thankfully, last Thursday on the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) campus, the International School of Protocol coached many students through a four-course meal with lessons on dining with etiquette.
Many universities host etiquette dinners for their students, but few if any include high school students. This Etiquette dinner was unique because it included students from UMB and Renaissance Academy together.
Shirley Green, the Promise Heights College and Career Coordinator at Renaissance Academy, said the impetus for her high school students joining the etiquette dinner came from her experience as a college student when she attended the dinner. The coaching helped her transform professionally and she hopes it accomplishes the same thing for her students.
Students exhibit the proper spoon placement during the meal’s first course.
"You’re in front of people, and the last thing you need to worry about is if my tie is put on right, if my suit is correct, if I’m eating the proper way, and am I eating too much,” Green said. She added that prospective employers are taking note of your table manners.
She’s likely right.
For the past six months, Forbes Business magazine published an article each month on the importance of etiquette. Green didn’t want her Renaissance Academy students to be without this important networking skillset or feeling unprepared for upcoming out-of-state college tours.
Undoubtedly, for Nakiyah Smith, the short walk from her high school into the University of Maryland campus felt a lot like a college tour.
Smith says getting to meet new people, especially the UMB student whose spouse studies engineering was the best part of the evening because she wants to study civil engineering.
“I’m pretty sure all of them learned something new,” Green said.
About Promise Heights: The Promise Heights initiative was established in 2009 by the University of Maryland School of Social Work to improve educational outcomes for youth and ensure families are healthy and successful in the West Baltimore communities of Upton/Druid Heights.