Big events create exciting opportunities, but they also bring real sustainability challenges.
As part of WCC’s Bachelor of Hospitality Management program, students explored the challenges destinations may face when hosting mega-events such as FIFA. To make the experience more practical and interactive, faculty member Dr. Sahar Movahedi organized a pitch session where students could apply what they learned in class.
Applying Design Thinking to Real Stakeholder Needs
Using the Design Thinking process, nine groups explored stakeholder needs and developed sustainable product and service ideas. They then presented and defended their proposals to faculty members from different programs, who served as judges and shared their feedback.
Creativity Meets Real-World Problem Solving
It was great to see students thinking creatively, exchanging knowledge with faculty and turning what they learned in class into real solutions. Activities like this are an important part of how we prepare our students for their future careers.
Part of a Broader Conversation on Sustainability in Hospitality
This pitch session reflects a theme that runs throughout the Bachelor of Hospitality Management program: preparing students to navigate the real tension between sustainability and profitability in the industry. WCC faculty member Rajesh Regmi explored this same tension in his recently published case study on revenue optimization in Whistler, BC, which asks students to weigh eco-friendly business practices against the cost-containment strategies needed to keep a hospitality business profitable. Whether the setting is a hotel property or a global mega-event, our students are learning to work through these trade-offs with the same design thinking and analytical rigor.
Thank You
Thank you to everyone who participated and to our faculty judges for sharing their time and knowledge: Gurpal Dhaliwal, Rimpy Dhaliwal, Vandana Khetarpal, Daren Hancott, Raj Hundal, Brandie Y., Karanvir Sekhon, Stephen A., and Jizhe Sun.
At Western Community College, we believe hands-on activities like this pitch session help students turn classroom concepts into practical, real-world skills they’ll carry into their careers.
