Teachers Learn the Basics of Resort Retirement Living

Scottsdale school teachers will learn how the resort retirement business works when they visit Sierra Pointe Retirement Community on Wed., June 8. This activities is part of a teacher training program that pairs teachers with area businesses to discern what skills students need to enter the workforce.

Scottsdale, AZ (PRWEB) June 5, 2005 -- Scottsdale School District teachers will browse through a selection of gourmet menus in an elegant resident dining room, share the energy of a Tai Chi class, take a peak at a state-of-the-art movie theatre and see 5-star customer service in action as they observe the resort retirement industry firsthand from 8 to 11:30 a.m. on Wed., June 8 at Sierra Pointe Retirement Community on 14500 N. Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd.

These activities are part of a teacher training program called Partners Advancing Student Success (PASS) that pairs teachers with area businesses to discern what skills students need to enter the workforce.

This is a unique opportunity to share knowledge of the resort retirement industry with educational professionals who are training our future workforce," Sierra Pointe Marketing Director Ellen Devine says.

Even better, it allows us to contribute to Scottsdales educational system as we demonstrate the kinds of skills needed to work in this environment. This will help teachers develop future lesson plans that contain the workplace skills and standards we adhere to at Sierra Pointe."

A group of five to seven teachers from the Scottsdale Unified School District will attend a Get-acquainted Breakfast in the resort retirement communitys private dining room, and then follow a number of Sierra Pointe directors and key personnel as they go about their daily jobs.

Running a resort retirement community," Executive Director Les Hunt says, is like overseeing a small village. Sierra Pointe contains many of the services and amenities you would find in a small, self-contained town such as a community pool, landscaped grounds, a state-of the-art fitness room, a computer center and a beauty salon, so my duties often involve decisions about infrastructure, growth, budget, and maintaining a high level of occupancy and resident satisfaction.

We hope to show visiting teachers how important maintaining a superior work ethic is in this industry. Many of our future employees will come to us through local schools, and it benefits our schools, businesses and the community, at large, if students are more aware of and better prepared to satisfy job requirements unique to this industry."

At the end of the half-day event, teachers will conclude their visit by providing feedback and enjoying a box lunch prepared in Sierra Pointes kitchen.

Designed by Motorola and supported by APS, PASS puts K-12 teachers into various workplaces during their summer break. By the end of their training week, teachers will have visited at least five different business sites and interacted with at least 10 different business leaders from various industries.

Their newly acquired knowledge will help them develop and integrate standards into their curriculum that will benefit education and industry. In the fall, when the teachers reconvene, they will give presentations to business leaders, showing how they have incorporated the Arizona Academic Workplace Skills Standards into their teaching curriculum.

We look forward to learning how this interaction between teachers and Sierra Pointe has helped hone and improve classroom curriculum," Hunt remarks. Developing an ongoing dialogue with teachers to integrate and improve educational and workforce needs is a challenge we embrace at Sierra Pointe."

About Sierra Pointe

Sierra Pointe is an upscale retirement community offering 216 rental apartments in a resort-like setting. The luxurious complex features studio, and one- and two-bedroom apartments, outdoor courtyards, a pool, a dining room serving gourmet cuisine, a library, a movie theater, a beauty parlor, a computer center, a state-of-the-art workout facility, craft rooms, meeting rooms, health care consultants and much more. The resort also offers additional assisted living services provided by a fully licensed staff. Taste the Sierra Pointe way of life. Experience a new way of living.

# # #