ITC Students Graduate in Style
The International Travel College of New Zealand (ITC) celebrated its 2011 graduation in style at the Langham Hotel, Auckland.
Graduates, their family and friends, ITC staff and representatives from the travel and tourism industry enjoyed an evening with drinks and nibbles in the Langham’s luxurious Grand Ballroom.
ITC Managing Director Kerry Priestly opened the evening, welcoming the guests to the special occasion, and Campus Managers Carla Sutton, Kirsten Leith and Michelle Chatfield also spoke throughout the evening.
The keynote speaker for the evening was Kate McCardle, the Membership Travel Services Manager for American Express. Kate began by asking the audience to close their eyes and imagine themselves packing to go on a trip, arriving at the airport and feeling a sense of excitement and anticipation. Kate said this is how she feels about the travel industry, highlighting the freedom and opportunity to meet with new people and experience new cultures.
Kate, who originally enrolled in a Bachelor of Science at university in Australia, was bitten by the travel bug when she spent several months travelling in East Africa. On her return she left university and studied travel and tourism in Sydney. She is now in charge of over 40 staff at the American Express call centre in Auckland. Kate has just returned from a visit to American Express in Sweden to perform a benchmarking exercise on their systems and processes. American Express customers recently voted Sweden first for customer service; New Zealand was second and Kate wanted to find out where they could improve.
“That level of commitment to being the best, and being excited about being the best was so inspirational for our graduates. The fact that Kate got to travel to Sweden and back via a conference in Monte Carlo and a trip to the UK also helped!” says ITC Marketing Director Claire Huxley.
As well as the graduation certificates, the following awards were given for special achievements:
Outstanding Academic Achievement: Harpreet Kaur (Distance Learning)
Outstanding All Round Achievement: Samantha Hunt (Botany) and Jayne Whitford (City)
Personal Achievement: Barbara Davis (Distance Learning) and Brooke Chapman (Botany)
Academic Excellence: Juanita Matila (Botany) and Ashleigh Beaufoy (City)
College Life: Sera Naitoko (Botany) and Robert Koto (City)
Student of the Year: Ruth Barlett from (Botany) and Cristina Traczinski (City)
ITC provided two professional photographers for the evening who busily snapped the graduates with their families and receiving their certificates. Graduates will all receive a free DVD containing photos from the evening.
Congratulations to all this year’s graduates, and a very big thank you to ITC’s Student Services Advisor Toni Waterhouse, who organised this wonderful event.
A special thank you to the Langham Hotel, the major sponsor for the evening, and to all our other sponsors: Thrifty , Intercity, Nomads , Rainbows End, Fullers , Citylife/Heritage , YHA , AJ Hackett , Explore NZ and Stray .
The International Travel College of New Zealand has campuses in Botany and central Auckland, as well as offering courses by distance and online learning. They have been the premium supplier of full-time and part-time training programmes for the airline, travel and tourism industries since 1996.
