STEP-UPP class reunion held at Southern Innovations Symposium
STEP-UPP class reunion held at Southern Innovations Symposium
Charleston, SC — The Southeast Produce Council has many worthwhile and successful programs, one of which is the Southeast Training Education Program for Upcoming Produce Professionals.
Now five years old, the STEP-UPP program held its first reunion Wednesday evening, Sept. 16, on Goat Island, one day prior to the council's Southern Innovations Symposium. Participants of all five classes returned for the event.
Tom Page, a former president of the Southeast Produce Council, and Faye Westfall, secretary of the council's board of directors, co-chair the council's STEP-UPP program. (Photo by Gordon M. Hochberg)
There were 10 participants in each class, and more than 30 came back for the celebration, according to the co-chairs of the STEP-UPP program: Tom Page, who is retired from Supervalu and is a former president of the council, and Faye Westfall of DiMare Fresh Tampa and current secretary of the council's board of directors. "That's a great number," they said.
About 85 people in total, including most of those on the board of directors, attended the event on Goat Island, which featured traditional Southern fare and live music.
The current class participants will finish their year of training at this symposium — formerly called the fall conference — and they will receive their certificates at the President's Dinner Dance Friday evening, Sept. 18. Also that evening, the names of the next class will be announced. There will be 12 participants in this sixth class, the largest class ever, noted Westfall and Page.
"People are realizing what a great program this is," they said.
