Palm Beach hotel draivs Dartmouth waiters

If you happen to be dining at the fabled Palm Beach hotel, the Breakers, this winter, don't be surprised if your waiter is a Dartmouth student majoring in classics.

In fact, the Breakers is the single largest employer of Dartmouth undergrads nearly 30 headed south to work at the luxurious ocean front resort last winter, while another half-dozen made the trek during spring term.

This special "Dartmouth connection," as the students call it, has been in operation since the 1972-73 school year, when the Dartmouth Plan was instituted. The lures are sun, fun, and money, with a heavy emphasis on the latter. Matthew Mcllwain 'B7 and Deborah Weitzman '86, for example, say they each earned between $4,500 and $5,000 toward their tuition, books, and other expenses last winter at the Breakers.

The pipeline to Palm Beach began soon after James Myers '50, then president of the corporation which operates the Breakers, received a routine letter from the College asking for information on any shortterm job opportunities for undergraduates during fall, winter, and spring terms. Myers immediately recognized that Dartmouth's flexible calendar could benefit his hotel, which needs additional employees only during the winter and spring months. That year, and every year since, information on the Breakers has been handed down by word of mouth in dorms and fraternities and through listings in the Career and Employment Services office.

The arrangement has been a success for both students and the Breakers, so much so that Dartmouth students generally need only fill out an application form to be guaranteed of the most popular jobs - waiting on dinner tables in the main dining room, where they can earn lucrative tips in addition to their wages and still make it to the beach during the day. "The hotel is aware of the caliber of our students, and it fits in with their image as a prestigious resort," explains Beryl Tewell, assistant director for job location and development at CES.

In fact, most of the Breakers' regular patrons have come to expect that their waiter or waitress may be a Dartmouth student. Diners sometimes even request a Big Green attendant, recalls Mcllwain, a government major. He notes that "by far the most popular question asked of waiters was 'Are you a Dartmouth student?' "