From the office

The Aleit Academy faculty is a passionate bunch of people. We thrive on being busy, ever-changing schedules, getting to know our very unique students, a lot of coffee and team spirit.

Our goal at The Aleit Academy is not only to present the most prestigious and practical driven courses, but also to create well-rounded, professional individuals who are able to think on their feet, take risks and work hard to reach their goals.
Therefore we are proud of our new campaign:

WE CREATE PEOPLE

Our students will not only walk away with their National Diploma in Event Coordination, but also be job-ready, entrepreneurs that can step into any position they choose.

We are excited to see what 2023 holds in regard to our new offerings, which includes the Swiss Diploma in Hotel and Tourism
Management. Only one final step remains, and that is for the golden signature on our South African accreditation documents.

But for now, let’s focus on being the best versions of ourselves for 2022!

Registration day

First Year Students of 2022

“What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year.” Vern Mclellan.

The excitement of the new 28 bright-eyed first year students was truly contagious when they arrived for Registration day on the 8th of February. They bring their unique characteristics, creativity, and eagerness to learn something new to the table and we know their passion for the industry will only grow stronger as the years progress. We are excited to see them grow into beautiful strong ladies that will take the industry by storm!

DIENS Training

First Year Students of 2022

After completing all their details and receiving their Aleit Academy starter kits – they were ready for their first day of training. They moved straight into their DIENS Hospitality practical training sessions with Alicia and Kezia.

This in depth training included boxing of table cloths, steaming cutlery and glassware, carrying glassware on trays, opening and pouring of wine & MCC, straightening of cutlery and under-plates, and so much more.

They ended off their week with a wonderful summer social, to break the ice from all the formalities of getting started.

Photo Shoot

First Year Students of 2022

This year’s theme for the 1st year’s styled shoot was “Vintage Vogue” with a black & white with a touch of red colour scheme. All these images were shot at Laurent on the beautiful Lourensford Wine Estate.

Thank you to our incredibly reliable suppliers who collaborated with The Aleit Academy to create this beautiful shoot: Laurent Venue, The Aleit Academy, Che’ Make-up & Skincare Specialist, Shani le Roux Make up, a|CREATE and Monique Smiles Photography.

Practical Hours

First Year Students of 2022

Creative Days

First Year Students of 2022

This year we introduced a new initiative to the first Learner Programme: Introduction to project management and events. There were four different creative days introduced for the first years to create, innovate and explore the events industry. These included the following workshops:

* Create a décor piece with recyclable materials with
* Bianca & Mia
* Wedding coordination with Nicola Johnson
* Electronic Mood board workshop with Markus Botha
* Creative workshop with Leandri from a|CREATE

The first years were super unique in all their concepts when they had to use recyclable materials to create a décor piece. Well done to Inge Barnardo for winning the best décor piece!

This creative workshop presented by our very own a|CREATE, is a favourite each year. Each student needed to create a still life composition according to an allocated theme. They could choose from Retro, Delft, Shweshwe, Pastels, Black & white, Monochrome or Moroccan and received materials such as spray-paint, markers, floral details, etc. They absolutely loved it! Photography: Carmen | Facilitator: Leandri, Emma, Carmen & Letitia

Studies

First Year Students of 2022

Congratulations to the very capable Amy-Claire Greenland and Chané Crocker who has been selected as the first year student forum representatives. They accepted the added responsibilities such as sending birthday reminders, managing year group socials and much more. They are doing a fantastic job thus far!

This group of students worked very hard to complete their first three learner programmes that includes a Workbook, Practical Project and Exam.

The first year students have also been very busy with their practical event projects! There are two charity events this year, including the Helpende Hand Golf Day at De Zalze and the Samaritans feet Art and Wine event at Zeitz MOCAA Ocular Lounge level 6. They are busy compiling their proposals for each event and will soon be presenting to the clients. The first years also had the opportunity to present ideas for the La Belle Mariee fashion show and Food Jams @ Jan Kriel event. How exciting to already be coordinators from their first year!

Socials

First Year Students of 2022

The student forum representatives wanted to do something special for their peers and surprised them with an Easter inspired social. They had snacks, drinks, DIY bunny ears, Easter egg hunt and fun interactive games.

We love the fact that our students took initiative to arrange this social and look forward to see what else they have planned for the rest of the year!

Workshop weeks

First Year Students of 2022

Workshop weeks has already been jam-packed with loads of variety to get to know all that the hospitality industry has to offer.

Each year The Aleit Academy’s first year students get various opportunities to flex their creative muscles. They got the opportunity to visit Coral and Hive Looms where they had a personalised carpet factory tour and learnt about textures, patterns and materials.

Academy lecturer Monique Theron facilitated another exciting creativity workshop. They learned that creativity requires inspiration (perhaps from a creative muse) and can be used in every day life with mundane tasks like problem solving. They were also tasked with doing a mood board using magazine cutouts, colourful paper, and materials where they designed their dream living room space by selecting a colour scheme and look (modern, bohemian, industrial, farm-style, etc.) of their choice.

Cell phones are not just good for social media and communicating but their camera’s have developed so much over the years that they are amazing for people, product and nature photography that can be used for marketing purposes for any business. We believe this is a valuable tool to teach our first year students for the future.

Just look at these beautiful photographs. These are the end-result of our students playing with light and shadows on their cell phones. We love bringing in Kat from House of Vizion to share her love and passion for photography with our students. This was truly an insightful cell phone photography workshop.

Who knew that social media marketing involved so many elements? The first year students loved learning from Ilse-Belle! They received some insight into creating captions, how many hashtags to use, when to do posts and how to do product photography in order to sell your product via social media platforms. This is a skill that will grow and evolve as the students continue their studies and surely prepares them for their internships.

Lecturer Nicola Bernardo did a budget workshop to help them plan for their future and guide them on using their pocket money each month. Do you have your budget set up?

We love introducing suppliers like Infinite Concepts who happens to be owned by alumni Elizma Freeman (2015). Here they learnt new skills in wedding coordination and how to start your own business after your studies at Aleit Academy.

Our very own Bianca shared some insight into dress code, what to to buy and which pieces works well together.

Here are some fun moments from their Boeretroos Barista course where they learnt about the different coffee beans and how to make their very own cappuccinos. YUM!

Here is a look at a few of the other workshops that the first year students enjoyed:
*Me-and-my-business with Emily Bloom (Emily-Jean Engelbrecht – 2019 graduate)
*Make-up & skincare with Behind the Face MUA (Zahnri Louw – 2019 graduate)
*Bridal Wear with La Belle Mariee
*Resumé workshop with Mia Scheepers
*Event Hire & Decor – with AXIS event solutions
*Intro to suppliers with Monique Theron & Nicola Johnson
*Safety First with Bianca Rijnsburger & Etzard Strydom

Buddy Social

First year and Second Year Students of 2022

The second year students took it upon themselves to make sure that each new first year has a “buddy” to assist them during their studies.

They designed a creative way of helping everyone find their buddy. There was a speed dating session where the second year students met the first years in a fun and interactive way. They also designed wedding dresses with toilet paper and had to model in order to choose the winning look. They received a photograph of their buddy and once their buddy was found, they enjoyed a beverage together while getting to know each other.

Helpende Hand Golf day

First Year Students of 2021

The first year students of 2021 (current second years) received a charity event to coordinate and execute and they got
allocated the Helpende Hand Golf Day. They planned the event from entries to goodie bags and of course the dinner and
décor. This event ensured that our students get a taste of what goes into sporting events and see what it all entails.

With this event, Helpende Hand raised almost R60 000 which will go to funding for students’ tertiary studies. We just love giving back!

Practical Hours

First Year Students of 2021

After the recovery of the events industry the practical hours for the first years picked up and they were able to meet their 250 required hours. This year (2022) they continued their practical hours in order to reach the required 350. They are very lucky to experience a variety of events including weddings, birthday functions, corporate functions and many more!

Internal Job Shadowing

Second Year Students of 2022

Each year the second year students get the prestige opportunity to complete internal job shadowing within The Aleit Group entities. This includes a|CREATE, DIENS Hospitality, Aleit Events, Aleit Weddings, Laurent, Zeitz MOCAA Events and Ocular & Bakenhof Winelands Venue.

During this time, the students have the opportunity to work alongside Aleit coordinators, creatives and employees while they get their first taste of doing real-life event proposals, invoices, budgets and the like. An incredible space to improve their practical knowledge and expertise as they learn from the best!

Workshops

Second Year Students of 2022

These students also attended multiple extensive and exciting workshops. These workshops seriously help spice up the
students’ Resumés while also giving them space to exercise their cognitive thinking skills and creativity.

These workshops consisted of: First Aid Level 1 with Dynamikos (Seen above) | Fire Safety with Dynamikos | Preliminary Wine Course with Cape Wine Academy (seen above) | Creativity Wake-up (Seen above)| CANVA course with Mia Scheepers |
Logistics Workshop with a|CREATE | Visual Merchandising with Olive Studio (seen below) | Photography course with Monique Smiles Photography (seen below) | Floral Workshop with a|CREATE (seen below) | Personal Development Masterclass with SA Image (Seen below).

Huisdans 2022

Second Year Students of 2022

The second year students had the amazing opportunity to present their concepts and ideas for the Aleit Academy Huisdans 2022 to Hans Roosenschoon (CEO), Aleit Swanepoel (Founder) and Monique Theron (Event coordinator and Lecturer). They once again pulled out all the stops for their presentations with outfits and even accompanying drink. This formal event is where all three year groups get together, dress up and dance the night away at the beautiful Laurent venue on Lourensford Wine Estate.

Their proposals had to include their theme and look and feel for the formal Huisdans event, their fundraising ideas including the Huisfondsdans event and it’s theme as well as an informal budget proposal. This prepares them for the events industry and presenting in a stressful environment in front of a client.

There were several concepts and themes that wowed Hans who ultimately chooses the winning team. Get excited for the new concept for Huisdans 2022! We can’t reveal too much yet, but promALEIT is going to be the best one yet!

Studies

Second Year Students of 2022

While the second year students complete their internal job shadowing within The Aleit Group the facilitators are preparing for their three learner programmes that will start soon. Communications will be presented by Mia Scheepers, Leadership and Methodologies to be presented by Nicola Bernardo and Human resource management to be presented by Markus Botha and Bianca Rijnsburger.

These subjects prepare them even further for their external internships at the end of the year. Communications prepares them to communicate properly with their superior and the team they will find themselves in. Leadership focuses on leadership skills and what type of leader they should aim to be, while Human resource management prepares them to deal with clients and what to do should their customer be unhappy.

External Internships

Second Year Students of 2021

Wow, what an amazing journey it was for the second year students of 2021 (current third years). They really experienced it all when they completed their external internships at the end of the year. Here are just a few of the companies where our students gain invaluable industry experience:

Electric Egg | SA Image Academy | Goeters | Millhouse Kitchen | Butterknife | Bouwer Flowers | Cardova | Unveil Elegance | Flowers in the Foyer | Nooitgedacht Wedding venue | Adene’s Farm Flowers | Lanzerac | Secret Diary | ORDEN | JOY!
Magazine | Plett Rage | Loch Lynne Wedding venue | Salome Interiors | RSVP Events in Mauritius

Studies

Third year students of 2022

The third year students experienced a slightly different schedule to last year where they started with their subjects for a month before heading out for their external internships.

Fundamental Accounting Principles was facilitated by our new external lecturer Lee-Vano Fortuin, their Entrepreneurship and Small Business course with MC Coetzer and Chris Vos as per usual and their Project Management learner Programme with facilitator Nicola Johnson.

This year in their ‘thesis’ subject, they had the choice between two different events that get hosted in Laurent on Lourensford Wine Estate; an Aleit Group Year End Function or a Non-traditional one-day Wedding. They were all given completed questionnaires with a specific pax, theme, colour scheme, and their client budget.

We would like to introduce our student forum representatives who represents the third year group, whose roles include
arranging group socials, send birthday reminders and complete all the absenteeism for the group, just to name a few: Chloe Davis and Gabbi Lopes! Thank you for your leadership thus far.

Jan Kriel

Third year students of 2022

Jan Kriel Wine Auction has been a third year project for 8 years now and we are thrilled to announce that this will be the case again this year. This year, Jan Kriel is celebrating their 85th Birthday as well as their 30th Annual Wine Auction.

The event will also be taking place at the Jan Kriel School this year and that comes with a few more tasks when coordinating the event.

The third years really blew André, Suzette (from Jan Kriel Institute) amd Monique away with creative and inspiring concepts and the winning concept was: Transition into Triumph.

The beautiful meaning behind the butterfly that goes hand-in-hand with this year’s theme has many symbolism however, the one
chosen means triumph of the spirit and soul over the physical prison. This year’s Wine Auction will embody the veri peri colour scheme which is the pantone colour of the year.

We drew inspiration from two different group’s presentations with the following students coordinating and executing this event alongside Monique Theron: Alette Bester, Andrea Schulpfort, Catherine Wake, Chloe Davis, Courtney Lord, Elze van Eeden, Gabbi Lopes, Imke Engelbracht, Kimberley Rutledge, Minicha Borlinghaus, Zoe Coss, Megan Lockwood, Petra Steyn and
Mieke van der Merwe.

We look forward to see this event come to life on the 17th of August 2022.

External Internships

Third year students of 2022

And so the journey of the third years of 2022 continue with their awesome and unique external internships! They are scattered throughout the country and are experiencing the events and hospitality industry back in full swing! Here are just a few of the snaps that were taken at their internships and during internship visits in March 2022. We just love visiting each student to see what they are up to, who they work with, where they sit and see them become professional adults!

Graduation 2021

Huisdans 2021

ALL Students of 2021

The second year students of 2021 planned and executed a beautiful Cuban inspired Huisdans in 2021 where students
had the opportunity to dress up. The theme involved a cigar lounge, dark coloured velvet and leather couches, an accordion player who was our pre-dinner entertainment and of course a ‘vibey’ DJ for dance music. Elena Schutte (2021 graduate) won the award for best dressed as she not only looked the part, but was also Cuban inspired.

Jan Kriel Wine Auction 2021

Open days 2022

Aleit Academy Travel Journal

General 2022

The Aleit Academy team along with some representatives have been on the road this year with 3RC’s rocking future roadshow and CCEA, to market our course offerings. We have visited KZN, Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and will soon be doing the garden route area to meet and greet prospective students. We can’t wait to meet them.

Academy Upgrades

General 2022

We loved this project! We equipped our foyer and
general area with beautiful furniture and seating to ensure our students feel at home and can be comfortable during their lunch period. All the lounge pockets also have comfortable fleece blankets for the cold winter coming up!