Easter fun at ITC fosters teamwork & confidence

ITC students enjoying Easter fun and games before the long weekend.

Last Thursday, students at the International Travel College (ITC) celebrated Easter by dressing up, putting on special performances, and, of course, eating lots of chocolate.

The Easter event was in the spirit of good fun, but it had the added bonus of fostering teamwork and confidence among the students.

Each class was asked to nominate two “dressed up” students, and some classes also rehearsed special performances such as a Fashion Parade and an Easter dance.

Events like these are a great opportunity for students to practice performing in front of an audience (a useful skill in the tourism industry!), as well as work as part of a team.

(more…)

Pretty in pink: ITC raises money for breast cancer

Staff and students at the International Travel College participated in the NZBCF’s Pink For a Day campaign to raise money for breast cancer.

Students at ITC always love an opportunity to dress up for college – especially if it’s for a great cause. Last Wednesday everyone ditched the smart black and white dress code in favour of pink, pink and more pink to raise money for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation (NZBCF).

(more…)

ITC students celebrate different cultures at Global Wednesday event

Team India, who won this year’s award for Best Costumes at Global Wednesday

What do you get when you combine delicious food + colourful costumes + fun skits? Global Wednesday, of course!

Every year ITC hosts Global Wednesday, a student event dedicated to celebrating different countries and cultures.

Each class is required to prepare a presentation about their chosen country, and this often turns into one big celebratory feast, complete with plenty of music, fun and laughter.

(more…)

ITC’s Botany Students Take to the Lanes

ITC Students from the Botany campus bowling us over with their outfits!

To study travel and tourism you have to have a fun and adventurous side and our students never fail to show this off at our college events.

Last week ITC’s Botany students went 10-pin bowling at Xtreme Botany. Each team came up with a name and a theme, and in true ITC style, got dressed up to the nines. Prizes were given for a variety of achievements – some of which even involved bowling! (more…)

ITC’s Amazing Race 2014

ITC’s first student event of 2014 was The Amazing Race.

This is a fun-filled day where students from ITC’s City and Botany Campuses race around Auckland performing crazy in full costume, with their eye on the prize! ITC have been running this event for over 6 years now, with ITC making sure that the students test their tourism knowledge of Auckland.

Challenges and quizzes meant that all the teams really had to try very hard. From belting out ballads at Vector Arena to team members spelling out ITC with their bodies in Aotea Square, it was a day not to be missed!

As always we had great support from our industry contacts, both during the race and  with some amazing donated prizes, including Explore NZ Americas Cup Sailing Experience, Stray Jack Passes to the Bay of Islands, Auckland Adventure Jet Rides, accommodation at Nomads Backpackers and free pizza and drinks at Globe Bar.

First and second place went to our City Campus teams with a FANTASTIC time of 1hr 30mins and 1hr 35mins respectively, and third place went to a Botany Campus team with a time of 1hr 45mins. There were also prizes for the best-dressed teams and sportsmanship on the day.

With the sun out and a beautiful end point at the Auckland Domain, the day provided a wonderful chance to get out and about with our ITC family.

Thanks to everyone who particpated!

ITC Students meet the Industry!

ITC’s City Campus held its industry expo on 27 August.

Presenters from seven companies came to speak to the students and we are very grateful to AVSEC, American Express Travel, Auckland Bridge Climb and Bungy, Eco Zip, Intercity, Renaissance Tours, and Stray for their presentations.

The expo had a professional feel, as ITC wanted the students to experience a real industry event. The presenters had banners and posters promoting their businesses and the students all arrived looking very professional.

The students were organised into seven groups and each presenter gave a 20-minute presentation to each of the groups throughout the morning.

The main purpose of each presentation was to enlighten our students about the company, the sector of travel and tourism in which the company specialises, the speaker’s story of how they got to where they are today and some useful recruitment information. The presenters do amazingly well to fit all this into 20 minutes!

Most of the presenters brought an ITC graduate who is now working with them. This gave the current students are real sense that the careers they were discussing were achievable, as the students could identify with the graduate as someone like themselves.

The day went without a hitch, with students moving quickly between sessions and quiet reigning over the whole college during the presentations.

The expo was also open to our Distance Learning students and it was great to see a number of them there on the day, with one even organising her own work experience with one of the presenters.

The day went extremely well with extremely positive feedback from students:

“They were very informative and I enjoyed the vibe in the room while they were presenting.”

“He was passionate, had great knowledge and sold it as a fun way to work or experience.”

“He was very outgoing and easy to understand, he was funny and had good body language, which gave us a good impression.”

“She was really passionate about her job and shared her experiences with us.”

“They were lively, and made the audience participate in their presentation to help remember their information.”

”Made me think that anything is possible and there is so much you can put into travel and tourism.”

“Opened my eyes to many career paths.”

“Eco-tourism is a new product that has just come into the tourism industry and it really sparked my interest to start a career.”

ITC Ten Pin Bowling Day

Over 150 students from ITC descended on the Metrolanes bowling centre in Queen Street for a day of bowling, pool competitions and delicious food on 31 July.

Many of the students attended in fancy dress for the 90s-themed event, and the music and videos at the venue ranged from Spice Girls to MC Hammer. The tutors also dressed up, and Ginger Spice (Amy) and Sporty Spice (Tessa) did a great job of organising the day.

The students split into teams of six and took turns filling the bowling lanes for some friendly competition. When not bowling the students kept themselves entertained with free games of pool, 90s dancing and plenty of pizza, hot chips and drinks.

Four teams went head to head for the final rounds, with movie and bowling tickets up for grabs as the top prizes. The winning team was CAV03. Spot prizes also went to the students with the three highest bowling scores of the day, and to the most enthusiastic dancer.

The event was a great opportunity for the students to interact and get to know each other, strengthening existing friendships and meeting new people. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to all students who took part. Thanks also to Metrolanes for providing a fun venue that provided plenty of entertainment throughout the day.