Week 4: University of Oklahoma

Tuesday, June 23

We went to a cafe inside the National Weather Center, called The Flying Cow:

The National Weather Center building--my panorama of it--not from google!

This was definitely one of our favorite days yet because we were able to jump right in and help prepare hamburgers, salads, sandwiches, pizzas, fries, and hand people their orders. It was a fast-paced area and all the workers were so patient with us. (Not to mention that the day went by fast since we were constantly moving around and working!)

Jenica preparing sandwiches for campers

Rhonda, the general manager of south dining retail, talked to us at the end of the day about how Flying Cow is taking over boxed lunches for the University. They are going to be given a "central production area" where they will be able to have access to a bigger kitchen than the one they currently have. This will enable them to prepare hundreds of sandwiches that will need to be sent to the various eating facilities on campus.

After work, we toured the rest of the building and even got to see the robot, Dorothy, that was featured in the film Twister.

Mesonet, a mini weather station that is positioned around all over the area Oklahoma. (panels are solar power so they can hook their iPads up to them) ~very tech savvy 

Rotating globe that provides live updates on the weather!

Mark & Kandi McCasland Observatory

Wednesday, June 24

Today Jenica and I met with Lauren Royston, who is part of the Talent & Organizational Development Team. We helped run a table to recruit incoming freshmen for on-campus jobs.

We were also able to attend a retirement party for one of the accounting managers which was set up very nicely:

Thursday, June 25

Today Jenica and I got to tour a dining facility called Cate. Inside Cate is a Taco Mayo, Oliver's (provides breakfast and hot bar items), and Ruthie's (which provides hamburgers and hot sandwiches). It was in the midst of being renovated and was also not as busy in the summer--but it was cool seeing how it was run.

2:30pm--Sat in on a manager's meeting

Here Frank talked to the different managers on the updates that are occurring at the University:

-New Chick-Fil-A in the NE corner of the stadium

-Baja Fresh in the Union

-Stadium Expansion...$105 million reserved so far

-Meal exchange rates are increasing to $8

-Switching their syrup product to a local one

-Trying to incorporate more local products

-Trying to add gluten free desserts

Friday, June 26

In the morning, Jenica and I met with Shawn Henry, the Director of Retail Operations. The bulk of her job is to watch revenue, labor numbers, and overseeing why some operations may be doing better than others. She tracks specific months so she knows exactly what paid out in labor. She mentioned that Crossroads, one of the on campus food facility, does the best in revenue because they are open 24 hours.

Weekend

We had a relaxing weekend laying out by the pool and biking around. On Sunday we went to our new favorite spot downtown called Tea Cafe. They had so many different teas to choose from--iced, hot, frappes--it was hard to choose what to get but Jenica got the strawberry milk tea and I got the almond milk tea.

We also decided to check out a science building because people were telling us about a life-size periodic table that contained objects that represent the elements in them. (Sounds nerdy but once you look at these pictures you'll think it's ~ pretty cool~  too)