The Wood

Hi! This is Willa Faye Booth. I am 18 years old, a freshman here at Northwood, and I am studying Hotel/Restaurant/Resort Management….and I love it! I’m from Chelsea which is near Ann Arbor. I truly cannot imagine going to college anywhere else. I really love it here.

I am the youngest of four kids and have lived in the same house in the same little town my whole life. I was scared to go away to college. I had no idea what to expect or what was going to happen when I arrived at Northwood. I was really expecting to be homesick for a while after I moved into the dorms. Well, it turned out that I haven’t felt homesick at all since I’ve been up here. Don’t get me wrong, I love going home and seeing my family but I really think of Northwood as my home now. I have made so many friends through classes, clubs, campus activities and life, work, through walking the dorm halls and even while getting food in the cafeteria. I love the atmosphere on campus. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming and there are so many opportunities to get out of your room and have fun. I do not have a car on campus, so it is rare if I go home for a weekend but I always have things to do. I went to the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant last weekend. I’ve never been to a casino before so I was pretty excited. I got ten dollars free since it was my first time, and I left with eighteen dollars in my hand. I’m hoping it wasn’t just beginner’s luck.

As an HRM student, I’ve already had tons of opportunities to get out there and get some experience in the industry. In January, all of Northwood’s HRM students put on the 34th annual Stafford Dinner at Valley Plaza. I was a member of the reception team. I greeted guests as they entered and offered them snacks while they participated in the silent auction. I also helped out the wait staff during the dinner and refilled water glasses and served coffee. I applied for a department head position for next year’s Stafford Dinner. My interview is this Sunday. I really hope that I get one of the positions because I really want to get involved in as much as I can while I’m here and the Stafford Dinner is such a great experience to have.

Well I have to leave soon to go to my Food Sanitation class. The nice part about this class is that at the end of the term, as part of the course I have to take the Servsafe Exam. If I pass, then I will be Servsafe certified, which is a great benefit for me when I start looking for jobs.

Thanks for reading…I’ll talk to you again soon!