Students running their online travel agency out of East High School in Rochester, N.Y., are learning lessons agents have long known about traveling to some of the most popular U.S. destinations.
“When they book a flight leaving Rochester at 5:40 in the afternoon and arriving in New Orleans at 11 at night, I ask them, ‘What’s wrong with this picture?’” said Jim Spawton, who teaches in the National Academy Foundation’s Hospitality and Tourism Academy within the high school. “I just lost my first day. You need to find me a flight in the morning.”
As students across the country return to classrooms this month, some will be learning the business of travel. Although many “travel schools” — where aspiring agents learned the intricacies of GDS commands — have closed or cut back over the years, interest in travel and hospitality-education programs at the high school level appears to be growing.
East High is one of the 78 U.S. high schools with hospitality and tourism academies that are overseen by the National Academy Foundation.
The foundation was created in 1982 by ex-Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill, as part of an effort to prepare high school students for both college and professional careers by offering courses in subjects such as finance, information technology and engineering.
Overall, the foundation operates in 366 public high schools nationwide.
“All academies have to teach four courses [in its specific field] over the course of four years,” said foundation spokeswoman Dana Nachbar.
Many of the hospitality academies, the first of which opened in 1987 with support from the American Express Foundation, have popped up in high schools in or near tourist-heavy areas such as New York, Miami and Las Vegas.
Preparing for potential careers
At Rochester’s East High, the student-run online travel agency, which can be found at www.easthightravel.com, began its second year of operations last week.
It is illustrative of high school programs looking to prepare students for potential careers in the travel industry.
The students make real bookings and earn commissions (YTB Travel International provides the booking engine).
Spawton said he was looking to boost commissions this school year to as much as $10,000 from about $2,500 last school year by pitching the school’s agency to faculty, students’ families and local businesses with executives who contribute their time to the school’s professional programs. Commissions are diverted to student programs.
The agency will be part of a one-semester base course for the school’s Hospitality and Tourism Academy, which started its third year on campus last week.
As many as 60 students, mostly freshmen and sophomores, will participate in running the agency, which can turn around most travel requests in about a half-hour.
Spawton said the agency gives students a chance to broaden their knowledge about geography while learning about more detailed travel-industry information such as airport codes and hotel amenities.
“If they have to book a trip to Montego Bay, they have to be able to tell you five or six things you can do there,” he said.
The academy is prepping high school students for a potential career in a travel industry workplace where job growth appears to be outpacing that of other industries.
Through July, the travel industry added 106,000 jobs, or more than 11% of the U.S. jobs created year to date, according to the U.S. Travel Association.
Additionally, public-private partnerships encourage the students to learn about and possibly pursue a career in hospitality.
Marriott International is among the foundation’s sponsors, while PepsiCo recently awarded six graduates at Hospitality High School in Washington $7,000 to continue hospitality-management studies in college.
With those efforts in mind, the foundation is adding to its roster of high schools with hospitality programs.
This fall, four new hospitality academies will debut: two in Miami, one in New Orleans and one in Dallas. Six new hospitality academies are planned for the 2012-13 school year, including another one in Rochester.
Spawton said he’s working with Marriott to arrange internships for his students, and he noted that the students are being prepared for nearby hospitality programs at schools such as Monroe Community College, Rochester Institute of Technology and Niagara University, should they pursue a hospitality career.
Both Spawton and Nachbar said that in urban areas, where less than 50% of high school students graduate, more than 90% of students involved in a foundation academy graduate from high school.
The programs also provide the students with real-world customer-service experience.
Spawton said that some of the students within East High’s Finance Academy have gone on to study finance in college and get jobs with local credit unions.
“We’re actually positioning them to have many post-secondary school options,” Spawton said. “You learn enough here to go into the workforce knowing part of the business already.”
“When they book a flight leaving Rochester at 5:40 in the afternoon and arriving in New Orleans at 11 at night, I ask them, ‘What’s wrong with this picture?’” said Jim Spawton, who teaches in the National Academy Foundation’s Hospitality and Tourism Academy within the high school. “I just lost my first day. You need to find me a flight in the morning.”
As students across the country return to classrooms this month, some will be learning the business of travel. Although many “travel schools” — where aspiring agents learned the intricacies of GDS commands — have closed or cut back over the years, interest in travel and hospitality-education programs at the high school level appears to be growing.
East High is one of the 78 U.S. high schools with hospitality and tourism academies that are overseen by the National Academy Foundation.
The foundation was created in 1982 by ex-Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill, as part of an effort to prepare high school students for both college and professional careers by offering courses in subjects such as finance, information technology and engineering.
Overall, the foundation operates in 366 public high schools nationwide.“All academies have to teach four courses [in its specific field] over the course of four years,” said foundation spokeswoman Dana Nachbar.
Many of the hospitality academies, the first of which opened in 1987 with support from the American Express Foundation, have popped up in high schools in or near tourist-heavy areas such as New York, Miami and Las Vegas.
Preparing for potential careers
At Rochester’s East High, the student-run online travel agency, which can be found at www.easthightravel.com, began its second year of operations last week.
It is illustrative of high school programs looking to prepare students for potential careers in the travel industry.
The students make real bookings and earn commissions (YTB Travel International provides the booking engine).
Spawton said he was looking to boost commissions this school year to as much as $10,000 from about $2,500 last school year by pitching the school’s agency to faculty, students’ families and local businesses with executives who contribute their time to the school’s professional programs. Commissions are diverted to student programs.
The agency will be part of a one-semester base course for the school’s Hospitality and Tourism Academy, which started its third year on campus last week.
As many as 60 students, mostly freshmen and sophomores, will participate in running the agency, which can turn around most travel requests in about a half-hour.
Spawton said the agency gives students a chance to broaden their knowledge about geography while learning about more detailed travel-industry information such as airport codes and hotel amenities.
“If they have to book a trip to Montego Bay, they have to be able to tell you five or six things you can do there,” he said.
The academy is prepping high school students for a potential career in a travel industry workplace where job growth appears to be outpacing that of other industries.
Through July, the travel industry added 106,000 jobs, or more than 11% of the U.S. jobs created year to date, according to the U.S. Travel Association.
Additionally, public-private partnerships encourage the students to learn about and possibly pursue a career in hospitality.
Marriott International is among the foundation’s sponsors, while PepsiCo recently awarded six graduates at Hospitality High School in Washington $7,000 to continue hospitality-management studies in college.
With those efforts in mind, the foundation is adding to its roster of high schools with hospitality programs.
This fall, four new hospitality academies will debut: two in Miami, one in New Orleans and one in Dallas. Six new hospitality academies are planned for the 2012-13 school year, including another one in Rochester.
Spawton said he’s working with Marriott to arrange internships for his students, and he noted that the students are being prepared for nearby hospitality programs at schools such as Monroe Community College, Rochester Institute of Technology and Niagara University, should they pursue a hospitality career.
Both Spawton and Nachbar said that in urban areas, where less than 50% of high school students graduate, more than 90% of students involved in a foundation academy graduate from high school.
The programs also provide the students with real-world customer-service experience.
Spawton said that some of the students within East High’s Finance Academy have gone on to study finance in college and get jobs with local credit unions.
“We’re actually positioning them to have many post-secondary school options,” Spawton said. “You learn enough here to go into the workforce knowing part of the business already.”
