The best way to spend the school holidays

We think taking an ITC schools short course is the best way to spend the school holidays!

With the Easter school holidays coming to a close for another year, ITC is celebrating another successful round of ITC short courses for high school students.

Our ITC Schools team provides high schools and high school students around New Zealand with the chance to both sample our fantastic learning environment, and to earn NCEA credits during fun, engaging, and educational short courses.

We ran a number of short courses over these school holidays, and we couldn’t be more pleased with how they went! (more…)

ITC’s Short Courses – providing a world of experience

ITC’s Short Courses aim to give high school students a taste of the travel and tourism industry. But as Short Course Tutor Mel Verwijmeren found out the courses do a lot more than that!

“Just some of the wonderful feedback our students have given us is that they miss the college and that they learnt so much in such a small space of time. They miss the warm atmosphere and the friendly faces, and most of all the new friends they have made along the way. Students also gain a real sense of what it is like to study out of high school,” says Mel.

“Being immersed in an airport environment and learning in a plane instead of a boring classroom makes it a much more fun experience,” said a student from Macleans College. “Even though there is book work to complete you do not even notice it; it is really straight forward, as Mel teaches you the stuff you need to know, stuff that I had no idea was involved in being a flight attendant!”

ITC tutors are committed to using fun and engaging methods to teach their students, and the Short Courses are no exception. 

“We use group exercises, role play, competitions and creative design,” says Mel. “We get the students using their imagination and taking learning to a new level to give them the tools to deal with experiences they may meet in the industry.”

A Mt Albert Grammar student said: “Mel was a great tutor and made me feel comfortable and not embarrassed to do the role plays. I loved how we would learn something and then be assessed on it straight away so it was fresh in our minds.”

“Mel encouraged everyone that it’s alright to step out of your comfort level,” said a student from Aorere College. “Also mistakes are there to be made so we learn from them.”

The Short Course students have also gained NCEA credits ranging from two level 2 credits on ITC’s Big Day Out Course to nine credits on the five-day travel course.

But it’s the hands-on training that gives students a real sense of what working in the industry is all about that they value most.

“This course was very beneficial and informative and I definitely would recommend it to people who are even the least bit interested in flight attending, as it really opened my eyes to the realities of the job,” said one student from Macleans College. “There was a good ratio of theory and practical, which showed us the realities of flight attending and the environment.”

“This course was amazing – after coming here I know what I want to do,” said a student from Mount Albert Grammar. “I loved being downstairs and working in the airport. I can’t wait to come to ITC next year!”

Junior Teofilo – a lucky choice

For Junior Teofilo, signing up for a few NCEA credits gave him a whole new career to look forward to.

Junior Teofilo says that he had never considered travel and tourism as a future career until his careers advisor at St Paul’s College signed him up for an ITC short course.

“It was just a week-long course to gain a few credits,” says Junior, “but spending that one week with the staff here at ITC, I fell in love with travel.”


Junior is now studying full time for his Level 3 Certificate in Travel and Tourism at ITC. 

He has enjoyed overcoming the challenges he has faced to be here.

“Coming from an all boys school, which was dominated by Pacific Islanders, it was a hard transition to get used to an environment where there are a lot of different ethnicities and the majority of the students are female,” says Junior, whose family is Samoan.

“But the staff and tutors are so friendly and easy to talk to and they made it much easier with team-building activities.”

“Not only do they help you fit in, they also make it easier for you to understand the work,” he says.

Junior now has plenty of new friends at ITC, and says he recommends the college not only to those who want a future in travel and tourism, but to those who aren’t quite sure what they want from a future career.

After all, he just came for a few credits and stayed to get a qualification.