7/2/2010 10:15:41 AM
Hospitality Tourism Management (HTM) graduate Cyril Clancy was fortunate enough to work the red carpet with CTV during the Juno Awards in April, an experience that exposed him to the numerous career choices in the tourism industry.
“It allowed me to experience firsthand the setup of MuchMusic, E-Talk Daily and CTV as they interviewed the performers and stars arriving for the awards,” Clancy explained.
Clancy experienced the excitement of the red carpet, but the real test was putting his academic learning into action at the Juno volunteer centre. Involved with database management, he assisted the Junos volunteer coordinator with the placement of 600 volunteers in various roles throughout the city; coordinating with many committees and sub committees to ensure there was an ample number of volunteers at every event.
“The Juno Awards involvement strengthened my desire to work in the tourism sector, being involved with the visitors to our province and seeing their delight with the hospitality of Newfoundland and Labrador. It was a tremendous networking opportunity, something that is essential in the tourism industry. I met many people from many different companies in Newfoundland, some of which have begun to open doors for me in my job search,” Clancy said.
While he had some involvement with the tourism and hospitality sectors before attending HTM at the Prince Philip Drive campus in St. John’s, he is now concentrating his focus on the hotel industry and tourism marketing and development as a career option; explaining the end result could be working with a destination marketing organization or government tourism agency.
Clancy says he knew HTM was the program for him after the first day – now, to have hands on working experience at the Juno Awards, puts it over the top. He is certain his connections will lead to a red carpet career.
“I would recommend prospective students of the HTM program to approach the program with an open mind. Leave preconceived ideas of the tourism and hospitality sector aside and grab the opportunity to learn how to professionally work in the industry and be able to grow and build a career in the fastest growing industry in the country.”
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Media Contact:
Roger Hulan
Communications Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 643-7938
roger.hulan@cna.nl.ca