Nashville Bartending School Wins 2008 PBSA School of the Year!!

The staff of the Professional Bartending School of Nashville attended the 2009 PBSA National Leadership Conference held in San Juan, Puerto Rico on June 13, 2009. The meeting was a wonderful experience for all who attended. Activities were held on the 9th floor of the Caribe Hilton with an outstanding ocean view. Schools from around the United States attended this years conference.

The Caribe Hilton has a rich history in Puerto Rico. It recently celebrated its 55th year of creating the original Pina Colada! This years meeting concentrated on the theme of putting more people to work in a tough economy. Many news stories have been done on bartending schools throughout this last year documenting the fact that bartending is a recession proof career. While other trades are struggling to put people to work, there is still a huge demand for bartenders.

Professional Bartending Schools of America as a whole is up in attendance and placement nationwide. PBSA is the largest chain of bartending schools in the United States and the Nashville campus is proud to be part of the premier chain of bartending schools. This years meeting had a variety of speakers but the highlight of the day was Silvia Santiago, Vice President of Manufacturing of the Don Q. Rum Distillery and her trusty side kick, Jose. She was an amazing speaker who brought different blends of rum and had a contest with participants to come up with the best rum mixture. All in all the meeting was a huge success. These meetings are generally held in exotic places and are a reward to the staff of PBSA campuses for their hard work throughout the year.

The meeting was held all day Saturday, followed by a cocktail party on the roof of the Caribe Hilton and then the Annual Awards Banquet. The Instructor of the Year was given to Larry Stratton of San Antonio, Texas. Nashville had won the award the two previous years with Victor Deaton winning the award in 2006, and Randy Jansen winning it again for Nashville in 2007. It was one of the few times in PBSA history that a school was given the award back to back. Congratulations goes out to Larry for an excellent job. The San Antonio school strives for perfection and the award represents the hard work of Larry Stratton and his Assistant Director, Rachel Burdett.

The real drama of the evening started when the President of PBSA, Roger Oldham, announced the National School of the Year Award. Nashville had been on a unprecedented run of winning the School of the Year Award 9 out of the last 10 years. Coming off one of its best years ever, the staff was on the edge of their seat anticipating another win. Roger announced the School of the Year going to the Professional Bartending School of Atlanta.

The Director of the Nashville school, David Edwards, though disappointed was happy for the staff of the Atlanta campus. The Director of the school, Jeannie Gaines, has been a friend of David's for over 20 years. When the hoopla died down over the presumed upset, Roger Oldham made an announcement that actually there had been a tie for School of the Year, and promptly announced the Nashville campus had won it again. David leaped from his chair and practically mugged Roger for the award.

David actually joked around and said he was about to have a Kanye West moment if Nashville hadn't won. This was the first time the Nashville campus had shared the award, but was very happy to share it with Atlanta. Jeannie Gaines is a legend in the bartending school world having been the Director of the Atlanta campus for over 30 years. This was actually the eleventh time Nashville had won the award in the 17 years since the Nashville campus opened its doors. "It's a pride thing with our staff."

David was quoted as saying. "Every year we set a goal to be No. 1 and the two things we concentrate on at our campus is working with students until they graduate and then working with students until they find a job." This has been the Nashville school's motto for years and that is why they are the best bartending school in the country year after year. Congratulations to the Directors and Staff at the Nashville campus and the Atlanta campus for a great year.