"Last year, at the Cabot Senior Dinner, I saw a few people who just didn't know how to act. One man got drunk and threw his feet up on the table," Bourneuf said. "I decided to go to OCS and see about starting this program."
Smith says her career grew from a personal love for the history of etiquette and she has seen the need for formal instruction grow in recent years as the latent result of the counter-culture take their toll.
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"In the sixties, we had a big disestablishmentary movement, and that generation fought against all the norms of society. But they threw the baby out with the bathwater," Smith said. "Now the pendulum is swinging back as people realize it's nice to say please and thank you."