JHI's first class of foreign refugees graduates

Jacksonville Hospitality Institute's (JHI) first class of foreign refugees graduated from housekeeping training Thursday, March 4, 2010. The students were from Burma, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Africa, and only a couple students could speak English.

Despite the language barrier, JHI was able to successfully train the students and nearly all of the students have earned jobs in the hospitality industry.

The class, which was made possible thanks to a partnership between JHI and Lutheran Social Services (LSS), was a 5-week, abbreviated version of the 10-week full-length regular course JHI has offered for the past three years.

See photos more from the graduation here.

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