Greek Days at ROC Mondriaan great success

Students bring tourism, culture and hospitality to life

On Friday 31 October and Saturday 1 November, ROC Mondriaan's School of Tourism, Recreation and Events on Helenastraat organised Greek Days, in collaboration with Greek Guide Travel and To Magazaki. The two-day event was set up as a practical case for students from the Junior Event Manager course and other courses within the school. The slogan ‘Experience a day of Greece in The Hague!’ was literally lived up to.  

The days were festively opened by the representative of the Greek embassy, Apostolos Michalopoulos, who during the opening expressed his appreciation for the valuable cooperation between ROC Mondriaan and Greek tourism companies. As many as 60 students from the various courses cooperated to make the days a success.

Win-win

These kinds of events are very important for our students to learn in real professional practice,” said Mariska van der Weide, the organising teacher, “and for that we need the business community, so together we create the best possible learning environment at school. For Greek Guide Travel and To Magazaki, this is an excellent opportunity to contribute to the training of young people and get to know possible future new employees. A classic win-win situation in other words!”

The students were also delighted. Eleyna (Delft), third-year student on the Junior Event Manager course: “We started coming up with the concept for these days with our team back in February last school year. It was very instructive to work together with all the different partners. We all had our own role during the execution of the event. I was responsible for wardrobe and reception.”

Up and coming in Greek spheres

Visitors to the Greek Days could fully immerse themselves in Greek culture. The canteen hosted a market with stalls full of Greek products from To Magazaki, information on destinations, hotels, excursion opportunities and internships in Greece. Hoteliers from Zakynthos, Evia, Leros and Rethymnon (Crete), among others, were present, as were the team from Greek Guide Travel and the Greek Tourist Board. A band, Greek dancers, drinks and a pitta-gyros food truck created a real festival atmosphere. Presentations, workshops and demonstrations were held in the classrooms, including a cooking demonstration, a holiday Greek workshop and a dance workshop. In total, the ROC Mondriaan students welcomed about 1,000 visitors, spread over three parts of the day.