Plattsburgh State senior Cassidy Pulver is a triple threat. The Poughkeepsie native is a double major in Restaurant Tourism Management and Spanish and has a business minor.
From an early age, Pulver began working in the food industry. A week after Pulver’s fourteenth birthday, she began working at Amore Pizzeria in Pleasant Valley, New York.
“I really like restaurants, food service and the customer connection. I like pleasing people and working with them,” she said.
During her two years working at the pizzeria, she moved up from answering phones to waitressing. After that, she moved on to work at Giacomo’s Pizzeria in Wappingers Falls, New York.
“I started hostessing at another place through my sister. I’ve been blessed to have connections with my sister and family friends. It’s been a great industry to work in,” she said.
When Pulver saw there was a program at PSUC, she thought she could make her passion into a career.
“The more classes I took, the more I could see myself doing this in the future,” she said.
After taking the Samuel D’s dinner course Pulver was offered to be the teaching assistant for the class. Where students are able to learn both the front and back operations of a restaurant position.
Pulver also works on campus at Samuel D’s, the PSUC cafe as a student manager.
“I was given that opportunity through the course offered to HRT students. I completed the course and was offered a management position, and this is my fourth semester as a manager now,” she said.
She said she decided that if she wanted to go into hospitality, she should learn another language. That’s when she declared her Spanish minor.
After Pulver completed that minor, she realized there’s a lot more to the language. She decided to take a few more courses and soon after she upgraded her minor to a major.
Pulver recently studied abroad in Spain and said it was an amazing experience. She was there for five weeks with a host family and took international business and relations courses.
“The Global Education office gave me a great opportunity to tie in all three aspects of what I’m studying with study abroad,” she said.
Pulver said she is grateful for her adviser, PSUC chef instructor Kim Emery. She said they share similar interests.
“She is an alumni, and she went to The Culinary Institute in Poughkeepsie. I kind of see myself in her because we are both interested in food,” Pulver said.
Emery said she couldn’t say enough about Pulver’s hard work and dedication.
“Cassidy is a dynamic student. She has the ability to do a lot of different things,” Emery said. “Not only is she good with her studies, she’s also a really good people person.”
Emery said it’s great to watch Pulver go from a student to a manager, working at Samuel D’s, and now a teaching assistant for Food Service Operations Management II.
When she’s not working on her studies, Pulver manages to be the treasurer of Dance Corp and stays involved with campus life.
“I’ve been dancing since I was four. My dance teacher from home had told me that she’d had danced in Dance Corp at PSUC,” she said.
Pulver tried out and made the team during her freshmen year when one of her friends from her studio back home convinced her to try out.
“We have great contemporary dancers, great hip hop dancers, and I like coming together with people from different areas and backgrounds of dance and collaborate with them,” she said.
Pulver said she loves working with the members of Dance Corp to prepare for performances, as well.
President of Dance Corp Meghan Weeden said Pulver is one of the most hardworking people she knows.
“If you look in her planner, it’s like every day, there’s so many different things she has going on. She’s a very busy girl,” Weeden said.
Weeden has known Pulver for three and a half years, but they became good friends when they both joined the eboard.
“My favorite quality about Cassidy is that we can get along so well, but we can also be at each other’s throats. We are so different in how we go about things,” Weeden said. “We’re opposites and we work together very well. She’s one my best friend on the team.”
Besides Dance Corps, Pulver is also the vice president of the Hospitality Management Club and a part of the SA Activities Coordination Board. Pulver is on both the Special Events Committee as well as the promotions leader for the Student Association. She also helps coordinate and plan events that occur on campus.
“One of my goals on campus is to get people involved,” she said. “So I’m hoping to have other people on campus do the same and to push yourself. Do things you normally wouldn’t do.”
Pulver said PSUC has given her so much, and she’s been blessed with so many opportunities, leadership roles and connections with faculty and administration.
Pulver said she’s looking at international relations, international business, corporate and higher level management, but she also loves event planning and event coordination.
“Whatever I end up doing, I think I’m going to end up happy,” Pulver said.
Email Kavita Singh at kavita.singh@cardinalpointsonline.com
