Poly student leans on hotel industry training

A nosy handyman tests your professionalism. Attendees of a wedding party create a ruckus in the hotel lobby. A distraught guest crumbles in panic after losing her passport.

- Elisha Tushara

These were the nightmare scenarios that Ms Rachel Yu, 19, had to handle as a competitor in the hotel reception skill area of the 47th WorldSkills Competition in Lyon, France. The event was held from Sept 10 to 15.

Unlike other participants from Singapore who learnt about this competition when they enrolled in the Institute of Technical Education or a polytechnic, Ms Yu found out about it while still in secondary school.

She was introduced to the competition, dubbed the "Olympics of vocational skills", when she was in Secondary 4 at Marsiling Secondary School, during a visit to Republic Polytechnic (RP) for its open house.

A lecturer there piqued her interest when he spoke about an RP student who represented Singapore in the hotel skill area when the competition was held in Switzerland.