How Metz Culinary Management uses events to boost student engagement at Albion College

Earlier this school year, Metz Culinary Management General Manager Jeff Davis was walking through Albion College’s campus in Albion, Michigan and saw a handful of students playing cornhole on the quad. While many who passed by the students would simply continue going about their day, Davis used the moment as the jumping off point for his next dining event, a cornhole tournament complete with food provided by the dining team’s food truck. 

“I see [students] playing all the time. And I was like, ‘You know what? Why don't we see what happens if we just put it right outside the dining room, and let's see if they come,’ and they showed up,” he said.  

Seventy students ended up participating during the first day of the tournament. The event is one of many being held this year by the Metz dining team to get students out of their dorms and make meaningful connections with their peers. 

This year, students will get to enjoy a mixture of old and new events from the dining team. 

Seventy students showed up for the first day of the dining team's cornhole tournament. 
One of the events that will make a return this year is a chef cooking competition where a panel of student judges taste and rank dishes created by dining program chefs and students. 

The competition was a hit last year, Davis says, and he’s excited to host it again. 

“The student engagement was great, and the student support was great,” he says. “It really worked out well.”

A newer event happening this fall is a cooking class taught by Davis and his executive chef. Over the course of several weeks, students will learn foundational cooking skills such as basic kitchen and food safety as well as more advanced techniques like fresh pasta making. 

The goal of the classes is to get students using their hands and learning more about where their food comes from and how it’s made, since many of the students who take the class “don't know how to hold a knife and don't know where ingredients come from,” Davis says.

This month, students will have an opportunity to further strengthen their connection to food through the dining team’s Korean-Latin Fusion event. Each station inside the dining hall will feature a special dish such as spicy Korean Pork and Kimchi Fried rice that students can try. 

Davis and others from the dining team will be on hand to share more about the inspiration behind the meal and each dish will include some background information on its ingredients and where they were sourced so students can learn the story behind the menu item.  

The school year is just getting started for Davis and he’s excited to continue finding unique ways to engage students as the semester continues. 

He advises his peers in the college dining space to always for new events and not be hesitant about hosting events. 

“Don't be afraid to try new things, because you would be surprised,” he says. “I never thought I would have students that would want to judge food, and I never thought I would have students that would want to participate with us in our kitchens, but they do, and they want to.”