Hotel construction allows Kirkwood intern a rare work opportunity
–by Kevin Corizzo, Kirkwood News Service
Kirkwood Community College student Keeley Niemann is completing a rather unique internship.
While a lot of students in the Hospitality program at Kirkwood get valuable hands-on experience at distinguished hotels before they graduate, not very many can say they played a role in building a hotel. Yet that’s exactly what Niemann has done for much of 2009.
“It’s been phenomenal,” Niemann said. “Just to see how much dedication goes into building something from the ground up – it’s been an awesome experience.”
For Niemann, it’s an experience that began in January. That’s when she began working for Kirkwood Associate Hospitality Professor Lee Belfield, who is also overseeing the construction of The Hotel at Kirkwood Center and will serve as its first general manager. Niemann had already completed one internship at the Coralville Marriott and had to finish one more before completing her studies at Kirkwood.
That’s when Belfield approached her with an opportunity.
“He actually came to me and said, ‘I can hook you up with another hotel, or you can help me build this one from the ground up,’” said Niemann, who earned a Culinary Arts degree in December of 2008 and her Baking certificate and Lodging Management degree in May of 2009. “I said ‘Yes, of course I will.’ It was quite an honor to be asked.”
What’s followed since has been professional experience seldom seen by an intern. Not only has she assisted Belfield with the organizational needs associated with building a new hotel, she’s also helped shape the future of the Hospitality program and how the curriculum will be integrated into the new hotel.
“We sat down and took a look at the classes,” Niemann said. “I’ve been through all the classes, and we said ‘What about this class would you change? Or if we had to do something different, how would you do that? Or if we could add something to the curriculum, what would you add?’ I think our final product really gets into each individual aspect of the hotel.”
Niemann also helped work on the budget of the new hotel and did surveys of other hotels and how they operate. “For example, little things like what they have in their weight room, if they offer shuttle service to the airport, when they offer it – things like that,” she said.
“She’s got a great work ethic,” Belfield said. “You can see that in her classwork as well. She was our student-of-the-year at the National Restaurant Association awards gala this past May. She’s a serious student with a great personality and is very interested and dedicated to the hospitality industry.”
For Niemann, it took a while for that interest to cook up. Originally from Wayne, Neb., she said she was drawn to Kirkwood through a local friend who had gone through the Culinary Arts program.
“I kind of thought ‘Yeah, I’ll go do it,’” she recalled. “It was kind of a spur of the moment deciding that I was going to go, then that was it.
“I just kind of jumped into it. I had no idea about the Lodging program, it just kind of fell into my hands. Now I prefer it over the Culinary.”
Neimann said the wide range of knowledge gained at Kirkwood will only help her once she gets into the industry, not unlike how the new hotel will offer invaluable experience for Kirkwood students in the future.
“A lot of books tell you what you want to hear and what they think you should know,” she said. “But when you’re standing there in front of a customer, you never know what they’re going to say. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Getting that kind of hands-on experience is 100 percent valuable.”
Neimann is one three Kirkwood students in the Hospitality program to receive valuable hands-on experience through an internship in the summer of 2009. Kelsey Rastetter is interning at The Grand Harbor Resort and Water Park in Dubuque and J.J. Martinez is working at the Sheraton Hotel in Iowa City.
Neimann finished her hotel planning internship at the end of July. She already works for Belfield tending bar at a restaurant he operates called Zins in downtown Cedar Rapids. Her immediate plans are to continue working there and eventually find a job working in management or as the director of sales and marketing for a hotel. That could, conceivably, lead her back to the hotel she played a role in developing, although her initial desire is to simply gain experience in the industry.
“Most people in our industry never have the experience of opening a hotel,” Belfield said. “Where she’s been placed in this, she’s gotten to see all aspects of what’s going on. It’s been a onetime opportunity.”
As her involvement winds to a close, Neimann is appreciative. “If I would have just gone to another hotel, I would have been either at the front desk or working banquets,” she said. “But this – deep down – is the heart of the industry. You don’t get to see that very often. It’s been amazing – very cool.”