![Assistant Athletic Director of Academic Retention & Services Jill Gerloff delivers the opening speech at her final NGWSD dinner before her retirement. “I love all of my athletes and my women's teams always show up for me, and I want to make sure that I can do something to show up for them,” Gerloff said. [File photo]](https://therambler.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/OpeningSpeaker_Gerloff-1200x800.jpg)
On Feb. 3, Texas Wesleyan hosted its annual etiquette course, allowing students to practice proper professionalism for future business dinners and interviews.
Every spring semester, Career Services hosts an etiquette dining course where attendees learn both American and continental styles of eating etiquette. The event was divided into two portions, mocktail hour networking followed by a dinner.
The networking portion of the event saw Career Services invite attendees to network while also serving mocktails. During the dinner portion, guest presenter Anita Heiskell from Prim, Poised & Proper led the etiquette course. Heiskell says knowing etiquette is one piece of the puzzle in a student’s career.
“First impressions are lasting impressions,” Heiskell said. “When everyone gets ready to go out and start interviewing for jobs and different things, they need to have this skill because that can be the yes or the no that you get from that employer.”
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Anita Heiskell teaches attendees to tear bread, not bite it.
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Tables are set up according to the F.O.R.K.S acronym—Forks, on Right-side, Knives and Spoons.
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First-year biochemistry majors Virgina Mumbi and Zorian Pattersonare served cocktails during the networking portion of the event.
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Students network with guests prior to the dinner portion.
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Staci Silk and Shawn Sullivan, national recruitment specialists at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, attend the event to network with students.
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“I feel like it’s[etiquette] important because it can help teach manners that have been forgotten in the new era,” ” first-year criminal justice major Gwenevere Bush said.
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Forks and knives are placed crisscrossed atop plates according to the continental (European) style to signal a pause during dining.
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Dr. Genea Shoulders (center) and other attendees practice the American (zigzag) style dinner etiquette.
![The Latinx Student Association will stage demonstration against the conduct of Immigration Customs & Enforcement on Monday, May 4 on the Kay Granger Mall. [Graphic courtesy Gabriel Hernandez]](https://therambler.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Informational-2-1200x720.jpg)
