Club + Resort Business’ Second Annual Awards recognize The Country Club at Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. for implementing a “Virtual School” to accommodate its youngest members when classes went online, and Champions Run in Omaha, Neb., for partnering with a mobile barber shop to help keep members of all ages looking good.
The December 2020 issue of Club + Resort Business features the 2020 Innovation Awards, recognizing club and resort properties that have conceived and implemented concepts that have paid real dividends in the form of enduring member and guest satisfaction and loyalty.
These properties were recognized for innovative achievement in the Member Services category:
The announcement at the end of the summer by the School District of Palm Beach County, Fla. that the 2020-2021 school year would begin as the previous one had ended, with distance learning, brought widespread disappointment about the prospect of more in-home learning to many families in The Country Club at Mirasol community in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
After he heard his wife Sharon say, “I just wish we could send kids somewhere,” in reference to their own four homebound school-age children, Mirasol’s GM/COO, Matt Lambert, was inspired to set up a “virtual school” at the club.
“Mirasol is home to many young families and we thought it was critical that we offer our community’s children the opportunity to be assisted by certified educators during their online school days in a safe and supervised environment, while allowing their parents to continue their own work,” Lambert says.
The club hired a retired school principal and an early-childhood educator to work with students in kindergarten through sixth grade during the school day. The students who reserved space on a weekly basis followed their own online schedules, but all were also able to participate in supervised break time that included physical activity at Mirasol’s family-friendly Sports Complex, complete with greenspace and sports courts and supervision by Mirasol’s experienced recreation staff.
School hours were 7:40 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the program was designed to accommodate students with varying schedules. Participation was capped at 24 students, and there was a wait list to register. Fees were $135 per week for one child, and $110 per week for families with two or more children.
Entry into the Mirasol Virtual School “classroom” each day required a temperature check of students and supervisors alike. Face coverings were also required, and socially distanced desks were assigned to each student for the duration of their enrollment. The 3,500-sq. ft. space was regularly sanitized, and an electrostatic spray was administered at the end of every school day. Individually packaged lunches were provided for participants by the Mirasol food-and-beverage staff.
The Mirasol Virtual School was offered from August 31 through October 2, by which time most of the students were able to return to in-person learning.
At a cost to families of less than $30/day, and with a favorable student-to-teacher ratio that ensured productive instruction, the school clearly provided added value for the parents who responded “overwhelmingly” to the idea, Lambert says. “But more importantly, we were fortunate to have been able to offer our youngest members a sense of structure and normalcy during these times,” he adds.
C+RB featured Mirasol’s Virtual School in The Road Back video series.
Pandemic-imposed shutdowns extended beyond club properties, and many clubs found innovative ways to make connections with outside businesses that were also affected, to help support their community’s larger economy while also providing unique and needed services for their members.
With barbershops and salons closed in the Omaha, Neb. area, Champions Run partnered with Mygroommoblile to provide parking space in the club’s lot and let the portable barbershop set up to provide its services, at a discounted price, to the membership. “It’s been such a huge hit, they now come every week, and it sells out to our members each time,” says the club’s Ben Lorenzen.
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