Cornell’s 8th annual White Coat Ceremony for third-year veterinary medical students is Saturday, December 3. The concept of the “white coat” donning for medical students was inaugurated at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, and shortly thereafter adapted for veterinary students at Washington State University.
Cornell adapted the practice in 2004, but with a twist. Instead of holding the ceremony at the beginning of the four-year curriculum, we decided to mark students’ transition from the preclinical to their clinical education as they began their hospital rotations.
Canada honored Sir William Osler in 1969 on the 50th anniversary of his death with this commemorative postage stamp. Photo by author.
Historically, both medical and veterinary students were largely “book taught” until about 100 years ago when the curriculum was expanded to include one or two years of clinical education in the hospital ward (or at the farm or stable). Dr. William Osler, a physician at Johns Hopkins Medical School but who had previously worked at McGill University’s veterinary college, is credited with being the first medical school professor to bring students out of the lecture hall into the wards.
Osler observed, “He [or she] who studies medicine without books sails an uncharted sea, but he who studies medicine without patients does not go to sea at all”. “Listen to your patients”, he would tell his medical students, “he [or she] is telling you the diagnosis.”
Cornell professor Dr. William Hornbuckle is the quintessential small animal diagnostician. Like Osler, the respect he has from over four decades of students is legendary. Dr. Hornbuckle is a stickler for getting an exhaustive history from the client. But once that information is gathered, he is adamant that the student "concentrate on the physical examination. Don't get distracted by talking to the client or your colleague for this is your chance to listen to the animal and what it is telling you."
Because the white coat symbolizes the generic and traditional professional attire of the health sciences, we at Cornell decided in conjunction with our alumni executive board (the co-sponsors of the white coat ceremony) to follow the lead of our medical school colleagues. We did this while also recognizing that many veterinarians—large animal and wildlife practitioners, for example—do not typically wear white coats in their practices.
As the veterinarian mentors of the Class of 2013 formally robe or “coat” each student this Saturday, they are following the deep-rooted tradition of veterinary education at Cornell where faculty promote the essential role of patient-oriented learning. It is in the clinical environment—whether the hospital ward, the farm or stable, or the wildlife sanctuary—that observations of both illness and health are embedded in the new veterinarian’s memory, and that textbook knowledge is applied with relevance to the patient.
Faculty: Try the “Library Resources” button on Blackboard for a direct link to guides in your subject area
All Blackboard generated course sites starting in Spring 2012 will have a button on the left navigation menu titled Library Resources. The Library Resources button will take you and your students directly to a subject guide that your Librarian Liaison has created for your department and includes links to Library and other resources that may be of assistance to your students as they complete their assignments.
Librarian Liaisons are also available to create customized Guides that will support your course(s). Please feel free to contact your liaison http://library.boisestate.edu/CollDev/liaisons.shtm to work with them on adding links to additional resources that you would find useful.
Lou and I have lived in SA for almost a year and a half. Last Thursday was the second Thanksgiving we've spent here and I have to say that, for me, Thanksgiving has been the most difficult holiday to be abroad.
Thanksgiving is the last Thursday in November, and with the Coffee Crawl falling on a Thursday each week I started back in October to think of which PE coffee shop would fit the bill for the holiday. It was then that I decided to have the Thanksgiving Crawl at my house and, in the spirit of the holiday, would be breaking the No-Food-On-The-Crawl rule big time. Seeing that the Crawl is in the morning I certainly wasn't going to do the whole turkey thing, though Lou and I had a nice turkey dinner (minus the fresh cranberry sauce) when he got home from work. I did, however, spend all day Wednesday baking pies, 3 apple, 2 pumpkin, 2 pecan, and 1 mincemeat for the Crawl. Fran and Keith stopped by to drop off their coffee maker that I was borrowing, and found me up to my elbows in flour and the kitchen quite a mess!
The plan for Thursday morning was to have everyone sit outside at the picnic tables but it rained Wednesday night (so much for the drought!) and everything was soaked in the morning. Oh well, I hoped there would be enough room inside for everyone. June and Leanne came a little early with their coffee makers to help me get set up. I couldn't have asked for two better baristas!
Meet the Baristas Leanne and June
Meet the Owner Lou (second from right)
Three Masterton's coffees (Blend 81, Out of Africa, and Cameo on Black Velvet), an assortment of teas/cookies/chocolates, and the eight pies awaited as the Crawlers arrived. The Thanksgiving Crawlers included Beth Vieira, Sandy Venter, Fran and Keith de Beer, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Gail Darne, Gail Taverner, Jenny Aubin, Nomusa Nkomo, Les Baldwin, Ellen Kock, Margaret Zoetmulder, Colleen LeRoux, Dierdre and Clary Hurter, Fr. Dominic Griego, June Nash, Leanne Waller, and my husband, Lou.
This Week's Crawlers Ellen, Gail T., Sandy, Jenny, Nomusa, Beth, Gail D., Fran, June, Leanne, Stella, Beryl, Margaret, Colleen
More Crawlers Fr. Dominic, Deirdre, Clary, Keith, Les
Let the celebration begin! Friends, food, conversation, laughter... and some awesome coffee.... truly a Thanksgiving to remember! All I can say about the hours spent Thursday morning with my SA friends is that I am blessed. I have been made to feel welcome and at home by all who joined me on Thanksgiving morning. Many, many, many thanks to all of you for making my holiday away from my NY home very special.
More thank you's ~ to Fran, June, and Leanne for letting me borrow your coffee makers ~ to my sister, Elaine in Erie, PA and my bff, Jackie in Tucson, AZ for the Thanksgiving napkins you sent-- very festive! ~ to Splendour Fine Imported Foods on Buffelsfontein Rd for having Crisco on your shelves-- I can't make pies without it! ~ to all who sent Thanksgiving wishes our way
A quick anecdote: Back in 1994 when our family was moving to Illinois from New York, our kids were sad because they said they would miss their NY friends. I told them, "You're lucky because now you will have NY friends AND Illinois friends." The two years we spent in Illinois flew by and when we move back to New York the kids were sad because they said they would miss their Illinois friends. .... Just sayin'....
One last note- Keith's useless Thanksgiving fact - A turkey could drown if it looks up into to sky when it's raining. I'm pretty sure that's not how our Tom bit it!
There is no doubt that the FFA National Football Curriculum is having a positive effect on the development of young players. In many ways, the best thing that has happened to Football in decades. The driving force is to produce more of the best at the elite level. Now to do that, there must be a serious cultural shift in the way we coach, train and play the game. This is big change. A change that will take a generation or two. Not something you can start and fail to pursue diligently over time.
The development process, in its widest context (not just COE players) in the ACT region is very patchy. That's to be expected this early in the change process. Expected, not accepted!
The primary focus of Capital Football has been directed toward those young players selected in what was the High Performance program and is now the Centre of Excellence. The reason for that is simple - there is a serious playing / competitive obligation to the FFA, in so far as Capital Football must prepare and campaign boys and girls age teams at the FFA National Youth Championships (NYC) each year. All part of the "big plan" you might say.
Now this is what the Northern NSW Football Technical Director (David Smith) had to say about the recent NYC (very good use of social media by this organisation):
The harsh reality of the FFA's National Curriculum is that the greatest burden is shouldered by Clubs, our Junior Clubs. The Junior Clubs in particular, must pick up all of the rest of the FFA player development ambitions. Capital Football supplement the process with Centre of Development training, but in order to improve the overall technical capabilities of young players, to make a real difference, then Junior Clubs must be at the forefront of this change. The Junior Clubs are very aware of the magnitude of the task in front of them. That's where the FFA and Capital Football's efforts must be directed. Not just to the small number of players who make it through to the elite programs. But that's not the way it is.
Take our own region as an example. It's probably no good blaming the Capital Football Technical Director - his job is to get the elite player development process working from his level in order to meet obligations to the FFA through the NYC playing obligations. There is a lot of work involved in this process, from one year to the next. It seems to me that this doesn't leave a lone hand Technical Director (and a part time Skills Acquisition Coach) much time to do anything else of an equally substantial level with our Junior Clubs. So, much as before, we have a process that is very much still in two parts - Capital Football and Clubs. In this respect, I am not sure we have made much progress since the former High Performance program and the Ron Smith review of this subject. Seems to me we are moving back to the Capital Football Academy playing squad days. Opinions are certainly divided on that matter, particularly at the Clubs.
So who helps the Junior Clubs? The answer is they help themselves, just as they always have done, through their army of parents, volunteers and coaches. No one gets paid. They get nothing back form the FFA and they financially underpin Capital Football through their registration fees and other payments. Capital Football provides the administrative / operational structure that enables the Clubs to operate at all community levels. That is substantial for a sport in Canberra which boosts more than most of the rest of the sports rolled up together, and much more than any single sports, summer or winter, a total of approx 18,000 football players and 6,000 futsal players.
The vast majority of our young Football players train. play, gain their technical and tactical competencies and have fun, develop their passion for the game, through their Junior Club. The talented players emerge at different times. We get more of them if the general football playing environment is improved, this is not news to anyone. These Junior Football Clubs are the real Football engine, the real Football powerhouse in the ACT region (and anywhere else in Australia).
And why the Junior Clubs? Well. its obvious isn't it. That's the place we all take our children to start to play the game. They do everything. This is the strategic point for the FFA and in particular, Capital Football, to intervene in a positive and productive fashion. The Junior CLubs are a part of the process, not apart from it.
With that in mind, the first critical shortfalls in implementation of the FFA's new direction appeared very quickly and still stand:
Insufficient coaches qualified and learned in the technical and tactical requirements of the curriculum (and subsequently 1-4-3-3), and
A paucity of coaching resources (teaching and learning materials)to underpin the "curriculum". that coaches and Clubs could call upon to make effective progress with those they coach (at every level).
The first shortfall, coach education, has been attacked with some vigour by the FFA and Capital Football have made a productive impact, with many people moving through coaching courses (by comparison to past years). Junior Clubs usually appoint something akin to a Technical Director, but they receive precious little assistance to undertake their important work. Again that divide!
The second shortfall remains a serious, glaring deficiency. To be frank, to call it a "curriculum" is just a bit thin. This would simply not satisfy any teacher in our schools. There is nothing to work with at the community Club coach level! The entire FFA development strategy was released without the underpinning resources to support the document titled "Curriculum" and so very necessary to enable effective coaching at community level. Its still that way. This is the one area where the FFA should give resources and effort. And get educational specialists (curriculum development) to do the work, with the football subject matter experts providing the technical / tactical information. Some member federations identified this shortfall early and got about creating these resources to support their programs and coaches. But why are we all doing it from scratch. Madness!
If I were to ask Capital Football to publish the current COE periodised program and supporting coaching resources, what response wold I get? A good one I hope. We need to share this knowledge. What has been done to obtain and publish good coaching resources from other sources?
Where the FFA has created good coaching resources it should publish the lot, no charge to anyone, so that every coach and every Club can get hold of it and use it. I'm talking about a substantial online coaching resource available to our football community. You may recall that the FFA trumpeted the solution S2S as the means by which this would be achieved. Of course we had to pay. I wonder how many Clubs anywhere, but in particular in the ACT are using this product or some other like it? What is the COE and COD programs using?
I don't expect Capital Football to shoulder this vital resource issue alone (although I think we should be able to view every session practice used in the COE and COD age programs), but wouldn't it be good if we took the initiative, collaborated with other member federations and created something of enduring value to our football community? One thing is certain at this time - the FFA isn't doing it! (please don't tell me the resources are with the coaching courses - if they were not it would negligent. But why not simply make all available right now to anyone, on a coaching course or not ?)
The video below is good to watch. So much to talk about on this matter. This journey had just begun.
Craig Foster recently commented on the sort of play you see in the video above. He makes some good points. Have a read of his article, its well worth it:
About the All Stars U14 Boys team at the NYC 2011 (attributed to National Assistant Technical Director, Alistair Edwards):
"Through learning football in a system, which has an easily definable style of play, positional roles and the application of space and movements, the best youngsters were able to come together as a team and very quickly play together to a high level, because they each knew their specific role and that of those around them."
About the uptake of the changes implicit in the National Football Curriculum, Foster observes:
"From my recent experience around the country, we are now well beyond the initial cultural change process and every educator and coach is hungry for information to improve.
The real challenge, however, is that while many have recognised and accepted the need for change and are now seeking to play the 1-4-3-3, the actual deeper detail about the movements and timings within are yet to disseminate satisfactorily and remains an issue of coach education and information availability."
A question to begin with: Shall we assume that with the ongoing success of Brisbane Roar playing the 1-4-3-3 system – with particular emphasis on the word ‘system’ with the automatic movement patterns inherent in the formation proving a handful for other A-League teams – that the issue regarding Australia’s youth teams adopting the 1-4-3-3 as part of the National Curriculum is at an end?
With most things in life, we all need concrete evidence before our eyes to both understand and thereafter believe in the efficacy of something and, aside from the system’s ubiquity across the world at all levels of the game and the inherent principles that are logical and effective, the record run of Roar is the perfect tonic at the ideal time for the implementation of the National Curriculum across the grass roots.
The question then becomes whether the message is actually filtering down to the youth game, where the National Curriculum is to take effect?
I believe it is. Let me share a couple of anecdotes.
Last week I received an email from a mother who had, apparently, previously written several years ago. Her son, aged 11 at the time and of diminutive build, had excellent technique but was being overlooked for representative teams. The disappointed mother was seeking guidance.
Be patient, continue to work with good educators on his technique and particularly his insight, on becoming a ‘footballer’ rather than merely a skilled individual, and the game will come to him, was my advice.
Change is happening quickly and Australia is moving towards a technical style where physicality and size no longer have the value they once did. In short, I told her, we are moving from ‘fightball’ to ‘football’.
The purpose of her latest email was to say that her son had been selected for a representative team that played recently in the National Championships, that his ability was now so prized that his size had ceased to be an issue, and to let me know that she can indeed see change under way.
I was delighted to receive the correspondence, because it indicated that progress is occurring lower down the game, where it is sorely needed.
Looking for further confirmation, I canvassed a number of educators from the recent Under 13 and 14 Nationals, as well as National Assistant Technical Director, Alistair Edwards, who oversaw the technical group at the tournaments and found almost universal praise for the style and level of play.
"There has been a complete transformation in playing style in just the last two years," was how Alistair described the situation.
"As every State is now at least trying to play football and are focused on playing the 1-4-3-3 as the educators are under pressure to do so, knowing that nothing less will suffice."
Additionally, I am told that the All Star team of the Tournament in both age groups had a far higher number of small, technical players who are now quickly becoming highly valued.
Through learning football in a system, which has an easily definable style of play, positional roles and the application of space and movements, the best youngsters were able to come together as a team and very quickly play together to a high level, because they each knew their specific role and that of those around them.
“If you saw the All Star teams play, you would have had a lump in the throat’, Edwards said.
"These boys all had sound technique, there were a couple of really exciting prospects among them, and they played beautifully as though they’d been together for years."
In return, I relayed an anecdote about a recent visit to a youth tournament run by former Socceroos striker Scott Ollerenshaw in Malaysia, at which I was thrilled to see a youth team of Marconi playing the 1-4-3-3, which was light years from some of the disgraceful ‘kick and rush’ I’ve seen from the youth game in recent years.
There was work to do on some of the mechanisms of playing out and in attack and it would have been good to see a higher focus on possession of the ball, but the basis and basics were present and this at club level rather than representative, a further step down the game. Extremely encouraging.
From my recent experience around the country, we are now well beyond the initial cultural change process and every educator and coach is hungry for information to improve.
The real challenge, however, is that while many have recognised and accepted the need for change and are now seeking to play the 1-4-3-3, the actual deeper detail about the movements and timings within are yet to disseminate satisfactorily and remains an issue of coach education and information availability.
Nevertheless, the evidence is that the message is getting through, real progress is being made, and Australia is increasingly, whether at HAL or youth level, learning to truly coach and play football.
Date: Edo period, around 1844 Technique: Triptych of colour woodblock prints
From a tenth-century legend
Princess Takiyasha was the daughter of the provincial warlord Taira no Masakado who tried to set up an 'Eastern Court' in Shimōsa Province in competition with the emperor in Kyoto. However, his rebellion was put down in AD 939 and Masakado was killed. After his death, Princess Takiyasha continued living in the ruined palace of Sōma.
This print shows the episode from the legend when the emperor's official, ōya no Mitsukuni, comes to search for surviving conspirators. The princess is reciting a spell written on a handscroll. She summons up a giant skeleton which comes rearing out of a terrifying black void, crashing its way through the tattered palace blinds with its bony fingers to menace Mitsukuni and his companion.
Kuniyoshi, the artist, probably referred to an illustration in his collection of western prints to produce this grinning skeleton in all its accuracy of detail.
The legend was also the theme of a Kabuki play. At the time that this print was made the Tempō Reforms had made it illegal to depict Kabuki actors and theatre scenes in woodblock prints, so Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) may have produced this 'historical' version of the story in order to get round the law. Kuniyoshi often used the triptych format (three prints forming a single composition) to dramatic effect, spreading large forms across all three sheets.
L. Smith, V. Harris and T. Clark, Japanese art: masterpieces in (London, The British Museum Press, 1990)
Sourced from the SBS World Game http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/video/2169365961/Pele-exclusive
Futsal - Mind Over Matter
Good enough for Pele, good enough for me!
Futsal needs to be an integrated component of football player development, at all levels of the junior and youth game, at the Capital Football Centres of Excellence and Development, and in all our Junior Clubs.
Go to the SBS World Game website and watch Craig Foster's interview with Pele. Its terrific.
Edwin Austin Abbey was commissioned to create a 15 panel mural for the Book Delivery Room at the new Boston Public Library. The subject he chose was The Quest for the Holy Grail.
Date: 1861 Technique: Oil on canvas, 75 x 151.2 cm
From Celtic mythology, Les Lavandières, also known as the cannard noz in Brittany, the Bean Nighe (in Scottish mythology), or the Midnight Washerwomen in English, are three old washerwomen. The three old women go to the water's edge at midnight to wash shrouds for those about to die according to the myth and folklore of Brittany; or to wash the bloodstained clothing of those who are about to die according to British folklore. The story of three old women may be due to the old Celtic tradition of the triple goddess of death and slaughter.
The washerwomen are small, dressed in green and have webbed feet. Their webbed feet may be the reason they are also sometimes called the cannard noz (meaning "night ducks") in Breton folklore.
This program was broadcast on 2xxfm (98.3mhz) across the Australian Community Radio Network on Tuesday, 22 November 2011 at 7:00PM.
Tonights program is an unusual mix of subjects:
1. Racism in Football and Foot In Mouth Blatter The disastrous and objectionable comments made by no less than the President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, on the subject of racism. During an Interview with Al Jerzeera, Blatter declared that there was no racism in football and indeed, if anything were said of the type on the field, then a quik handshake between the racially vilified and the racist will clear things up. It was just unbelievable, particularly given the work FIFA has and is doing to stamp out racism – a zero tolerance policy no less and most definitely on the field of play. Remember those big banners at the world cup and other premier competitions – “say no to racism”. Then there is the very serious allegations of racist comments by players on the field of play in the English Premier League this season. Just what sort of message was Blatter sending to the world wide football community, or was it an aged moment, or indeed, is this the way he really feels about it all? We’ll never really know, but what we do know is that the President of FIFA has, not for the first time in recent months, got it all wrong. The FIFA that he presides over is a mess, wracked with allegations of corruption, a patently corrupt world cup bidding process, operating in a world wide financial crisis that threatens most big Clubs in football as their debt levels reach astronomical proportions. In spite of this, FIFA has done some good work and some of it was about eliminating racism in sport – until Blatter opened his mouth. And yet, Mr Blatter, in the face of no credible option, got voted in for his fourth term as FIFA President and he got Australia’s vote too. Personally, I found Mr Blatter’s comments disgraceful and his subsequent attempts to justify his remarks to further underscore his unsuitability for the office he presently holds. Anyone heard anything from the FFA on this subject? Why not? Still hoping we will get a World Cup in 2022 are we? This whole thing is a mess, as is FIFA at the moment.
2. Group of Debt in Euro 2011 Then we have a very amusing piece from BBC4 radio, titled “Own goal from football’s “Group of Debt”). The fusion of a world financial crisis in Europeand Euro 2012.
The Times reported these figures at the end of 2010:
THE BIG DEBTORS
£727m Manchester United
£609m Real Madrid* (Real claim only £296m)
£436m Barcelona*
£386m Internazionale*
£348m AC Milan*
£297.7m Arsenal
£240m approx Liverpool
£147m Juventus*
£136m Roma*
£96m Bayern Munich*
£0 Chelsea, after £340m write-off, announced Dec 2009
£0 Man City, after £305m debt-to-equity write-off, announced Jan
2010
The Soccerlens website reported these figures in July 2010:
3.Junior Player Development - George Huitker For the final item in tonight’s program, I have returned to an interview I did about three years ago on Junior Football. I speak to George Huitker, the Director of Co-curricular at RadfordCollege.
George is the sort of person we need at the top in Football and certainly on our Capital Football Board. He seems to have done it all. Huitker has written two very good books on junior football and futsal. These two books sum up the issues for all parents and young players, as only a highly capable and thoughtful educator (in football / futsal / academia) could do. Its his massive experience of the age groups we are concerned with and wide view of the game and its role in the development of our young citizens, some of whom are very talented, that gives his writings and observations their power. George Huitker has produced and acted in a play, scripted from his first book on junior football. Books and play received considerable crucial acclaim. Try as I have over the years to get as good an interview on junior player development, I haven’t come close to Huitker yet. The inclusion of Huitker’s interview, timeless as it is, gives us a very useful counter point to the CF Tech Director’s call for complete commitment by players / parents to the CF COE programs. Now this is not a criticism of the TD, who is a fine fellow, with a job to do. An elite program (however we may define or expect an elite program to be) will obviously demand commitment. In one sense the CF Tech Director’s position is almost unarguable, but is it the full story when we think of all of the things that must accompany a young person development as a citizen, including a liberal and balanced education, but who love football with a passion, talented or not so talented. And is it the full story in a small place like the ACT region? The word “elite” is not the same as “develop” in a football sense, nor in an education context, but they circle in football at high speed around anyone young player daubed with the title “talented, and to coin a phrase “its all so often full of crap”! The notion of elite” is always worth challenging. This one is for thinking.
Thanksgiving is this Thursday and I have a lot to be thankful for.
I have a loving husband who is my world. He has stood by me in all my struggles, encouraged me in every venture I've taken, and wiped away my tears when things have fallen apart. I can only hope that I can give him the same love, care and devotion he has given me these past four years.
My in-laws. They took me in when my own parents would not.
My friends who have been so helpful and fun and loving this past year.
My grandmother and her brothers and sisters. They have been so supportive of me and my husband this past year which was so difficult for us.
So much love in my life and I love that there is a Holiday set aside from all the days in the year to give thanks for it...and the food is if course great ^_^
I was completely bowled over by my Coffee Crawl experience last Thursday. So much so that I have been at a loss for even how to start this posting.
The Crawlers met Thursday at Conyngham's Coffee Shop located at the Ray Mhlaba Training Centre on Conyngham St. in Glendinningvale. Let me start with some background on the shop.
Conyngham's Coffee Shop is a result of the partnership between two organizations, the Ray Mhlaba Training Centre and Umzi Wethu Training Academy for Vulnerable Youth, an iniative of Wilderness Foundation South Africa. The mission statements of each organization are as follows: Ray Mhlaba Training Centre- "The vision of the Training Centre is to contribute towards the alleviation of poverty, and job creation in the Nelson Mandela Metropole by offering fulltime training to the unemployed in the community." Umzi Wethu- "The goal of Umzi Wethu is to fulfil the employability potential of resilient motivated youth displaced by HIV/AIDS and poverty by using the power of the wilderness, promoting personal wellness in a nurturing home context, providing credible training, and securing sustainable job placements in hospitality and eco-tourism establishments - while extending the program's social outreach to others."
Meet the Baristas Vuyiseka and Luthando
In this, the sixth year of the partnership program, there are presently sixteen students in residence who are being trained in hospitality, hairdressing, woodworking, needlework, housekeeping, and early childhood development. Funding is provided by individual and corporate donations along with the proceeds from the sale of woodwork and needlework items, the coffee shop, and the rental of the 200 person capacity conference/event center. The goal of the students, upon completion of the year-long program, is placement in secure, well-paying hospitality and eco-tourism jobs at rural game lodges and urban hospitality establishments. The first five years of the program has seen over 85% of the students successfully placed.
This Week's Crawlers Les, Leanne, Keith, Beth, Nomusa, Stella, Tolla, Maureen, Beryl, June, Annette, Fran
As this week's Crawlers, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Fran and Keith de Beer, June Nash, Leanne Waller, Annette Tyropolis, Tolla and Maureen Kotze, Beth Vieira, Les Baldwin, and Nomusa Nkomo, entered Conyngham's Coffee Shop, we were greeted by two of this year's hospitality trainees, Luthando and Vuyiseka, and shop manager, Claudette van der Merwe. The decor of the shop is classic, with beautiful wood furnishings along with African animal prints adorning the walls. Claudette told us that the first year woodworking students made the tables and chairs for the shop. The aroma of fresh Masterton's special blend coffee and the display of baked goods completed the perfect coffee shop scene.
Fran admiring a table runner in the Needlework shop
Day students
As for the service and coffee.... incredible!.... personable and talented waitrons/baristas and excellent Americanos and cappuccinos all around. No-Food-On-The-Crawl rule-breaker, Leanne said the food was excellent as well! We were all thoroughly impressed.
After a few relaxing hours of coffee and conversation, Paul Longe, Academy manager of Umzi Wethu, took a number of us on a tour of the facilities. What an amazing place! The energy and optimism is palpable! At one point in the tour we dropped in on a group of day students taking part in a 10-day employment class/seminar. We concluded the tour back at the coffee shop where there continued to be a steady stream of patrons coming in for breafast/lunch/coffee. The shop is open Monday-Friday, 8-4 and for special functions off-hours by request.
Mee the Manager and Barista Claudette and Vuyiseka
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Conyngham's is Number One on my list of all the coffee shops we've visited on the Crawl. Tremendous effort resulting in excellence from the staffs and students/ trainees of Ray Mhlaba Training Centre and Umzi Wethu.
~Thank you to Claudette, Luthando, and Vuyiseka - your coffee shop is awesome!!!!! ~Thank you to Paul Longe for the tour and the info!
~Happy Thanksgiving to all in the U.S.A. ~A special Happy Thanksgiving to my family and friends ~Good luck in the Turkey Trot to Jeff, Liz, Elaine, and Roger
