TOURISM CARES
2015 scholarship students pose with several mentors Travel Exchange in New Orleans.
Mentoring with Tourism Cares
BY ELLAINE DEEKEN
YOU REMEMBER that feeling. You face the
big room of strangers, a plate of food in hand,
looking for a place to sit. No, it’s not the high
school cafeteria. It’s your first travel conference, and you’re the new kid. You don’t know
a single person because you’re just starting
out in the industry, and you’re hoping that
you’ll meet someone who can show you the
ropes at Travel Exchange—and beyond.
If you’re lucky, you’ve had at least
one good mentor in your life who has
encouraged and guided you during your
career. In this day and age, finding a
mentor isn’t easy: Travel professionals
are busy and constantly on the go; it
can be difficult for both mentors and
mentees to carve out the time; and of
course the mentors with the most to
offer always seem to be the busiest!
Fortunately, Tourism Cares students
have an opportunity to shadow the
wise veterans of the industry at Travel
Exchange. The Bruce Beckham Scholarship Fund NTA Mentoring Program
exposes college students to the wide
range of career opportunities available in
the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries by helping them establish professional networks. This year, 16 eager scholarship winners will be assigned a mentor
who they will shadow during business
appointments at the conference.
“I would love to learn more about the
day-to-day activities of professionals in
the hospitality field,” says 2017 mentee
Jordan Bacon. “I hope to improve my communication and networking skills as well.”
While the majority of the students
are fresh out of school, not all of them
Students shadow mentors during business appointments at Travel Exchange.
16
January 2017
are just starting out. Eric Paul Noonan
is entering his next career after serving in the United States Marine Corps.
“I really would like to meet someone in
the industry that would not mind mentoring an older man who happens to be
trying to achieve his lifelong dream.”
What do mentors get out of it?
“There’s something exciting about seeing NTA’s Travel Exchange through the
eyes of someone new to the event,” says
Kevin Murphy, general manager of Sports
Leisure Vacations. “There is nothing
more rewarding than seeing that student
later in life working in the industry.”
Julie Kozikowski of Destinations
Unlimited is one of those students who
has become a mentor. She is a past
scholarship winner and says that her
participation in the mentoring program
changed the course of her career. “I volunteer each year to pay it forward to the
future of our industry.”
Students at Travel Exchange will
attend appointment sessions and
engage in an active student educational
panel, as well as join in on the evening
networking events. At Monday night’s
opening party, this year’s students will
be wearing shirts with their school
name on them. They’ll face the big
group of strangers … a plate of food in
hand … looking for somewhere to sit.
Even if you haven’t signed up to mentor, you can be that friendly face. Pay it
forward. If you want to be a mentor and
be matched with students, it’s not too late;
email [email protected].