Friday, May 25, 2007

Alumni Reunion - Day 2

Day two started off (for some I am sure) with a painful wake-up call after a heavy night. However, everyone managed and was in Le Bouveret on time for the traditional Swiss breakfast 'croissants' and orange juice.
For my part, being back in Le Bouveret brings back amazing memories of fun times, with a little bit of studying here and there (yes?)

I arrived a little earlier than the rest, and raced around to say hello to everyone before the big mad rush. I was glad to see many familiar faces and all were very excited about this reunion, and were looking forward to seeing 'long-lost friends'.











Above: Christian Konrad (left) and Jolanda Hains (right)
Below left: Susan Fournier, RF, Allain Muller, Herve Fournier











Above right: The World Famous student bar 'The Dog And Lampost'. Tonight will be wild. I am sure the monks up the hill are expecting a little noise. They might even join, who knows?






Dr Petri did tell us he was retired, but it is nice to see his reserved space is still there, which means he is still visiting from time to time.







Us, looking fabulous. At the time of this photo, there were still a few alumnus to arrive. We will no doubt be taking group photos later again.



At 10:45 am, (15 minutes late... and 5 points deducted from our PA score), we were ushered into the Auditorium (aka called 'the Chapel') for a presentation on Cesar Ritz in the 21st Century. The presentation was to demonstrate the progress and various changes that have been recently happening in the world of Cesar Ritz Colleges.

I have written below a very brief explanation of the various topics that were presented:




  • Marga Cretton
    Mme Cretton welcomed us, and highlighted the importance of the Alumni Network. She also reminded us to check the website regularly, and ensure we are receiving emails. It was noted that the Ritz.edu email address can be forwarded to any other email address if you wish. This can be done in the ritz.edu email account settings.

  • Michele Patry
    Michele presented the various Alumni chapters currently existing throughout the world. There are now 20 chapters, and growing. There have been 28 reunions this year already. The new Alumni magasine, previously known as 'Alphorn', is now called 'Connection', and is formatted differently. She welcomed feedback on the new look.

  • Chapter President presentations
    Richard Farr, Teg Brar & Ayhan Coner

  • Trude Gulbrandsoy (Carreer Services)
    This presentation explained the various career activities that are being organised around the world and in Switzerland. For example, the last October 2006 Career Development Conference, held in Brig, had 400 hotels represented.

  • Reto Leder (Director of Marketing & Communication)
    this part of the presentation highlighted the various partnerships that have been established over the years, and recently, with various colleges & universities.

  • Herve Fournier (Director)
    Mr Fournier explained the changes that have happened to the courses held here in Le Bouveret. We were explained which courses were taken during each term, and how these are now structured. The Culinary Arts program was explained, as well as the new Leadership Program (which replaces the PA points system that we all loved sooooooo much)

  • Mr Kisseleff (President)
    A new 'research group' idea will be launched in the near future. Mr Kisseleff realises that a vast amount of research and study papers are being written and simply filed away. The idea is to allow Alumni and current students to access these papers, and even propose various topics that could be researched.

  • the current students prepared a short photo gallery presentation, after which Mr Kisseleff