As the Omni Hotel lit up, Mayra Avila and her senior classmates looked up in surprise and awe admiring the light show as the RHS Eagle’s logo danced across the massive building’s LED display.

“It was really cool witnessing the light show,” Avila said. “We were not expecting it to happen since we had come for the tour – it was a great way to welcome us to their building.”

With the Omni Hotel helping to sponsor the renovation of the RHS Hospitality classroom, hospitality teacher, Bobbie Weir, and hospitality students hosted the Omni Hotel managers at RHS to show them around the newly renovated classroom.

After the event, the Omni managers hosted the senior hospitality class at the Omni hotel giving them the surprise light show and a tour of the hotel building.

“I was kind of a manager that day, so I was making sure that everyone understood what they were doing, checking up on them constantly,” Avila said. “Sometimes I would switch them out with another position if I thought they were more suitable for that position for the time being.”

Initially, Avila chose to do sales and marketing, dealing with the budgeting aspect of the event when Weir switched her to a higher management position.

“After being put in the position, I feel like she made the right decision,” Avila said. “I don’t feel like I struggled with anything that day, it kind of came natural to me.”

The Omni managers and Weir spent years planning the room renovations as the school didn’t sponsor their project.

“I just formed a really good partnership with one of the Omni managers,” Weir said. “When I got in touch with her about the renovations, she came back to me a couple months later with her colleagues and we all worked on renovating the classroom to look like a hotel lobby.”

Spending all four years of high school in the hospitality program, Avila witnessed the transformation of the hospitality classroom.

“It was a gradual change, and it was fun to witness the process,” she said.

As a graduating senior, Avlia said there were a lot of things she has learned and connections she will continue to cherish.

“I would say that it was really fun,” she said. “There are people I became friends with now that I didn’t think I would’ve been friends with.”

Despite wanting to go into real estate, Avila said that the skills she learned in hospitality throughout her time in high school have given her valuable skills to utilize in the future.

“I feel like the stuff I learned in hospitality is something that you need with anything that you do,” she said. “It’ll just stick with you forever.”