n April 15, students in Annette Hoover’s HRTM 386: Festival Tourism Management class traveled to the Columbia International Airport to bid farewell to a group of World War II veterans who were headed to the nation’s capital. The veterans were going to visit the National World War II Memorial, built in honor of their service to our country. It was the first time, and for many the last time, these veterans would ever see the monument.

The students not only waved goodbye to the veterans as they boarded a plane that would take them to Washington, DC, but they were also the ones responsible for getting them there. For 13 weeks, 55 students in Hoover’s class raised money for the SC State Guard Foundation. The money raised went specifically to the foundation’s Honor Flight program that sends WWII veterans to DC to visit the monument.

It was Hoover’s idea to turn her Festival Tourism Management class into a real-world event management project where students could learn through creating and implementing a fundraising event. “You can teach everything the book tells you, but until you experience [event planning] yourself, you have no idea how it all comes together,” she said.

Hoover’s son, Major L. Steven Fox, a USC graduate, and General Nelson Lacey first introduced her to the idea of working with Honor Flight. Hoover presented the idea, along with others, to the students. They decided to work with Honor Flight and began the process of planning
their event.

The students planned a 5K run/walk along with an event at 701 Whaley that featured a silent auction, bands, face painting, a magician, and Taste of Columbia. “Working from no budget, [the students] had to get everything donated,” Hoover said. “They came up with all the creativity and planned everything; I just guided them through the process.”

Planning an event of this magnitude required the students to put in hours beyond what a normal class would require. In addition to their in-class time which was two and a half hours per week, “the students were working in my home, my office, out talking to companies, you name it,” Hoover said.

At the beginning of the semester, students were randomly assigned to various committees such as food and beverage, media and marketing, and operations, and carried out the various parts of the event in teams. Each student was also responsible for securing one item for the silent auction—a daunting task for many of the students. “Students often find it hard to make cold calls,” Hoover said. The students learned how to call on friends, family members, professional contacts, and companies, “and they surprised themselves at how well they did,” Hoover said. “If you never ask someone to help, the answer is always no,” she told the students. “If you just ask, the answer is often a yes or maybe. And even if it’s a no, you learn to ask ‘What can I do to help you change your mind?’”

The silent auction featured all of the items the students secured, which ranged from weekends at beach houses to jewelry. Sidney Rice, a former USC football player, signed and donated one of the shoes he was given during the NFL draft to be auctioned off at the event.

On the morning of their event, the students arrived before 7:00 AM and were responsible for every piece of the event from decorating to setting up the sound system to clean up. However, the learning didn’t stop after the students cleaned up the event.

The last portion of Hoover’s class was a peer review report where the students were required to evaluate themselves and their classmates. “It’s exactly what they do in corporations,” she said, which gave the students another real
world experience.

In total, the group raised $22,000 in 13 weeks. Hoover said the students “know now that giving back means getting much more than you ever give, and they truly realized that the ‘Great
Generation’ helped make things possible for their generation.”

Even after the semester ended, Hoover continued working on the project. There are still companies calling to say they would like to help, and she’s helping to make that possible. “Once this touches your heart,” she said, “it touches you forever.”

This certainly seems to be the case for Liz Watts and Edin Hitchings, two students from Hoover’s class who are volunteering their time this summer to write and send thank you notes to each person that was involved with their event.

In early June, one of the veterans who took the Honor Flight sent his own note of thanks to Hoover and her students. He said, “April 27, 2009, was one of the most exhilarating days of my life. There is no way any of you can know what this meant to me and the 90 veterans who made the trip. It was a very emotional time. It is so important you get the message of thanks from all of us.”

In the end, Hoover said, the students learned that event planning is hard work, but ultimately very rewarding.