Submitted photoMCC student Kristen Robertson gets a grip on handling a plate, cup and napkin in one hand during an Honors College breakfast session. Students were learning proper social and business etiquette forms.

 

From hints to how to hold a napkin, plate and glass in one hand to when to send a thank you note to hosts, Meridian Community College Phil Hardin Foundation Honors College students got a front row seat to proper business and dining etiquette.

Gay Saxon, director of workforce training at Hinds Community College, spoke to the Honors College students as they were dining on breakfast Tuesday in the College’s Dulaney Room.

“You have to have good manners,” Saxon stressed. “If you’re going to make a lasting impression, you want to be sure you are using good table manners.”

Proper etiquette will always be in style through the way people used to learn manners (and proper dining ways) were from families sitting down together at the dinner table. “If there’s going to be a change, it’s going to be with classes like this,” Saxon said.

Students also learned networking techniques such as an engaging interesting conversation in handling difficult situations.

MCC freshman Kristen Robertson, 18, of Winona, was especially pleased to learn about table manners. “Now, I know how to eat properly,” she said.

“It’s important,” Saxon said about why students should learn proper table manners and business etiquette. “That’s a huge indicator of who you are,” she added. “Manners matter,” she added.

And, good manners matter now and later. Cathy Parker, Honors College co-advisor, said the tips such as the ones Saxon offered to the students is vital “for their future for them to be successful and to advance in their careers.”