Spreading the Jolly Joy

One thing I love as a Jolly ambassador is that I got the opportunity to contribute to Jolly's thrust to help educate the youth who are about to step into the food and hospitality industry. Being and interacting with students has always been a refreshing experience and I consider it a great way to spread the "jolly" joy.This campaign for students is called Jolly University, and this has been running for 3 years with 12 universities and colleges participating. Jolly University is designed as a learning program organized by JOLLY, one of the leading brands in canned fruits and vegetables. Jolly University encourages students to LEARN essential industry skills, CREATE career milestones, and SHARE inspiring values with others.I was invited to speak about “event management” and share my knowledge about this business I’ve been in the past 15 years.I talked about how to conceptualise events that are strategic and purposeful, shared some of my tips and tools on event management to help make them organised and efficient, and of course some trade secrets I’ve practiced through the years. I hope I was able to impart some knowledge to these young people and inspire them to exert effort and passion in their future events!After this experience, I was then invited to judge the entries at the Jolly University culminating activity held at the Le Pavilion tent. Here are some snapshots from that exciting and memorable event—With my fellow judge, Karla Reyes of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and owner of the famous The Plaza CateringThe competitors hard at work in their stations...It was an intriguing and exciting sight, watching the students very ably whipping up their dishes while managing their stations and work flow very profesionally. Some groups were visibly more organized and more conscious on food handling and cleanliness.There were also all-day talks and demosSpanky Enriquez of Manila Boy onstage. There were talks by industry experts, chefs and even motivational speaker Francis Kong.It was soon judging time and we had this spread laid out before us. The task to evaluate each dish was challenging because each entry was not only delicious but also had a story to tell...plus plated beautifully! Here are some of the entries that were memorable to my palate:Would you ever forget Laeng Lasagna? This was actually quite good!This event is surely great practice and training for these young adults who will eventually be in the food and hospitality industry. Kudos to Jolly and Fly Ace for your efforts and Congratulations to the winners of the 2016 Jolly University event and thank you for making me part of this!---Jolly University Year 4 is now in the works! Get a chance to be the next Jolly University Student Ambassador! Win as much as Php 50,000 worth of cash and prizes and Culinary Mentorship Program! For more info, check out the Jolly page here.