{"id":24941,"date":"2026-05-14T10:40:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T14:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/?p=24941"},"modified":"2026-05-14T10:40:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T14:40:48","slug":"hrtm-students-gain-real-world-experience-through-classroom-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/hrtm-students-gain-real-world-experience-through-classroom-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"HRTM Students Gain Real-World Experience Through Classroom Projects\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students\u00a0taking two different courses within East Stroudsburg University’s Department of Hospitality, Recreation, and Tourism Management<\/a>\u00a0applied classroom learning to gain real-world experience.<\/p>\n

One group of students, under the direction of Yongwook \u201cYong\u201d Ju, Ph.D., assistant professor of hospitality, recreation, & tourism, completed the Commonwealth University Data Analytics Project. Throughout the semester, the student team worked with institutional data from\u00a0Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania\u00a0to explore different ways data can be organized, analyzed, and presented to support planning-related conversations. The students developed multiple analytical approaches to demonstrate\u00a0how data can support planning and decision-making, while recognizing that institutional\u00a0decisions\u00a0involve many factors beyond any single dataset or model.<\/p>\n

The final project included three student-developed analytical approaches: a ranking-based model, a proportional scaling model, and an outlier-focused model. These approaches allowed students to practice data preparation, model development, data visualization, interpretation, and professional presentation. The students presented their final work to representatives from Commonwealth University and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The presentation served as a valuable career-connected learning experience, giving students the opportunity to communicate analytical results to external stakeholders and respond to questions in a professional environment.<\/p>\n

Students enrolled in the department\u2019s Event Planning minor participated in one of the program\u2019s first live music concert collaborations with ArtsQuest. Their class, RECR 350: Special Events and Programming, was taught by Stanley Chiang, Ph.D., professor and department chair.<\/p>\n

The class worked with ArtsQuest, Pennsylvania\u2019s largest nonprofit arts organization and a nationally-recognized leader in arts, culture, music, and community engagement in Lehigh Valley. ArtsQuest provided the students with valuable hands-on learning opportunities in concert and live entertainment operations. Through this partnership, students strengthened their practical competencies, leadership abilities, and career readiness for careers within the live entertainment, festival, and event management industries. Topics explored through the collaboration included nonprofit arts management and the entertainment industry, artist booking and concert development, marketing and media relations, festival and event operations, and leadership and team coordination.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth experiences gave students opportunities to put what they\u2019ve learn in the classroom to work in real-world settings,\u201d said Sylvester Williams, dean of ESU\u2019s College of Business and Management. \u201cThese projects reflect ESU\u2019s continued commitment to career-connected learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about ESU\u2019s HRTM department, contact Dr. Chiang by calling (570) 422-3624 or email lchiang@esu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students\u00a0taking two different courses within ESU’s Department of Hospitality, Recreation, and Tourism Management\u00a0applied classroom learning to gain real-world experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":24944,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24941"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24941"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24945,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24941\/revisions\/24945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}