The Right Attitude Shines Through at ITC’s Graduation

Over 100 students recently graduated from International Travel College’s range of airline, travel and tourism certificate courses, and 11 students graduated from the International Air Transport Association’s IATA Foundation Diploma. The 320 staff, students and guests celebrated on 29 May in the beautiful ballroom at The Langham in Auckland.

“The IATA diploma is an internationally recognised qualification in airlines and ticketing and one that we are very proud to be able to deliver,” says ITC’s Managing Director Kerry Priestly.

IATA is an international trade body that represents some 230 airlines comprising 93% of scheduled international air traffic. As an IATA Authorized Training Center, ITC is authorised to teach IATA’s travel, tourism and aviation training programmes. In 2011, the college was named as one of IATA’s top 10 Asia Pacific Authorized Training Centers.

Donna Kermode – group training manager for Stella Travel Services’s retail arm, Harvey World Travel and United Travel – was this year’s guest speaker. Donna has a wealth of experience in the airline and business travel sectors.

“Donna’s speech was especially pertinent, as she has taught some of our students,” says Kerry. “Eight of them were handpicked to attend the Harvey World Travel Training School that Donna and her colleagues ran at ITC last year. It was not a required part of their course work, and Donna made special mention of ITC students’ motivation and said that they really have the ‘wow’ factor.”

Her speech focused on the importance of having the right attitude in order to succeed in the travel industry. She praised ITC’s students for their flexibility, adaptability, their helpfulness and their eagerness to learn.

“She gave our graduates a real sense of what they can achieve with their ITC qualifications,” says Kerry.
 
As well as the certificates and diplomas, the following awards were given for special achievements.

Distance learning awards
Personal Achievement Award : Te Uruhina Vercoe (NZ Explore – America’s Cup sailing trip for 2)
Outstanding All Round Achievement Award: Lynda Scott (Fullers – Taste of Waiheke for 2)
 
City campus awards
Academic Excellence Award : Laura Orsbourn (Intercity – Waitomo Explorer day tour for 2)
College Life Award : Taufiq Asad (Sky Dive Auckland – 16,500 foot jump)
Outstanding All Round Achievement Award : Nicky Bennett (Novotel Ellerslie – 1 night’s accom )
Student of the Year : Pattananawadee Singhapanit (Stray Tours – South Island Willy Pass)
 
Botany Campus Awards
Academic Excellence Award : Rosemary Munro (Intercity – Bay of Islands day tour for 2)
College Life Award : Aisea Halo (AJ Hackett – Auckland Bridge Bungy Jump)
Outstanding All Round Achievement Award: Emma Pilkington (YHA Rotorua  – 2 night’s accom)
Student of the Year : Aisea Halo (Magic Tours – Northern Discovery Pass)
 
ITC would like to thank the sponsors who gave us such fantastic prizes, and a special thank you to our major sponsor for the evening, The Langham, Auckland.