Cassidy Culpepper

Kelly Simmons

Culpepper, from Blue Ridge, GA., sets out part of a banquet at the Georgia Center.
Photographer Ezequiel Korin

When Cassidy Culpepper enrolled in the University of Georgia Hospitality and Food Industry Management (HFIM) program she was interested in becoming an event planner, perhaps in the state’s thriving agritourism industry.

And she was interested in tea—studying it, making it, teaching others about it and, perhaps, selling it.

“I can tie that into agritourism,” Culpepper says.

During a summer food and beverage internship at the UGA Center for Continuing Education & Hotel, a hands-on lab for HFIM students, Culpepper identified potential opportunities to bring those interests together for a successful career.

I’m able to get so many different experiences. I can narrow what I really want to do by working here.

During her internship, which requires 200 hours of work, Culpepper worked in the Savannah Room, the Georgia Center’s main restaurant, and the bar area. She trained as a student manager and worked banquets. Before she finishes, she’ll have shadowed members of the Georgia Center management team and helped prep meals in the kitchen.

“I get a really, really wide range of experiences in just one internship,” she says. “I think that’s cool.

Her favorite rotation? Working banquets, especially as a manager, she says.
An organizer by nature, Culpepper enjoys the detailed planning that goes into banquets and making sure all the student employees are staying on task. Instead of telling them what to do, she says she likes to get in there with them and help.

“Having a leader who’s been in your position makes a lot of difference,” she says. “That’s something I’ve learned being on both sides of it.”

When I come here I learn from people every single day. You learn a lot from these employees. This is their livelihood.”