More than 200 local high school students attended Savor & Soar: A Hospitality and Tourism Summit at the Amway Grand Plaza, Curio Collection by Hilton Hotel on September 5, 2025. It’s the third year we’ve hosted this event, which brings students and industry professionals together to engage and interact with each other in a real-life hospitality and tourism management (HTM) environment.
This year’s Savor & Soar focused on entertainment and hospitality group meeting spaces, exposing students to the unique characteristics and opportunities of this industry segment. This was an immersive learning experience in which students actively participated alongside experienced pros to get a real sense of the work involved.
By showing, not just telling, students about the industry, we aim to better inspire them to pursue their own HTM careers – hopefully, right here in our region, where the demand for hospitality and tourism workers continues apace.
A Collaborative Endeavor
We were fortunate to partner with some of the city’s leading hospitality lights on this year’s event. The Amway Grand Plaza, AC Hotel Grand Rapids Downtown, DeVos Place Convention Center, DeVos Performance Hall and Gimme’s Par & Grill collaborated with us to shape the program and open their facilities to students.
We are also grateful to the industry experts who participated in panel discussions and Q&A sessions: Melissa Stanley, General Manager of AC Hotel Grand Rapids Downtown, who began her HTM career as a room attendant at JW Marriott Grand Rapids; Tim De Groot, who entered the industry as a security officer at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and is now Engineering Manager of both AC Hotel and downtown’s Courtyard by Marriott; and Boston-based Hilina Ajakaiye, Chief Strategy Officer for the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals, a first-generation Ethiopian immigrant and nationally respected leader in hospitality, tourism strategy and inclusive economic development. They generously shared their diverse experiences and career trajectories to motivate and encourage students.
Savor & Soar 2025 was distinctly different from the 2024 event, which was different in turn from 2023. We’re pleased to announce that we have secured commitments to establish a five-year rotation of local HTM attractions, ensuring that no student will experience the same event twice during their high school career. There are so many possible HTM career paths for students to explore!
This year’s event included an elevated lunch experience for students and their chaperones to enjoy.
Students visiting DeVos Place convention center and DeVos Performance Hall.
Photo by Brock Visuals for Experience GR
Part of a Practical Education
Savor & Soar was born to address the HTM industry’s workforce development gap and raise awareness about the incredible diversity of HTM careers. We also wanted to provide students with hands-on experiences and access to local and national industry experts.
The event is a natural outgrowth of our work with the Academy of Hospitality & Tourism (AOHT) at Ottawa Hills High School. In 2019, we teamed with Grand Rapids Public Schools, Grand Valley State University’s Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, AHC+Hospitality and other industry partners to launch and advise the Academy.
We’ve since partnered with other local high schools to offer the AOHT curriculum, which supports students from freshman to senior year with courses and work-based learning experiences that progress each year. Students from nine schools representing four school districts took part in attending Savor & Soar 2025!