Students' education includes traveling the world

So there we were, a bunch of AIB College of Business staffers, officers and faculty members listening attentively to a report being given by Steven Kellogg, president of AIB’s Student Government Association (aka SGA).

Volunteer opportunities available. Concert on campus planned. Spots still left for SGA trip to Chicago.

Cost to students for the three-day Chicago trip is $50, he said, which includes charter bus transportation, lodging and admission to several attractions such as Shedd Museum and the Wendella Lake and River Boat Tour.

“What did you say the cost is?” I asked. Fifty dollars per student, Kellogg repeated. The AIB Activities Department subsidizes the rest.

“Can I go?” I asked in all seriousness.

That trip is just one of many available to AIB students. The active student organizations and clubs at AIB regularly provide opportunities for additional education through travel in the United States and abroad. Other recent excursions have been to New Orleans, St. Louis, Cozumel, Jamaica, Rome, London, Paris and Ireland.

This past spring, 16 members of Business Management Association (BMA) packed their bags and traveled to Lucea, Jamaica. The students earned the funds to finance the trip, which helped reinforce the business concepts taught at AIB.

“Our BMA members earned more than $35,000 through Ovations Food Service by working concessions at Wells Fargo Arena,” said Lynn Clark, Business Administration professor and faculty sponsor of BMA. “They operated like a miniature business, setting difficult goals, strategizing ways to hit those goals and staying focused and motivated by keeping their eye on the prize.”

The students stayed at the Grand Palladium Jamaica Resort & Spa, where they ziplined, snorkeled, dove from cliffs and swam with crocodiles.

“We also toured the south coast of Jamaica, taking in the history, culture and ecosystem of the region, as well as the business practices. We visited with local shrimp fisherman and had a start-to-finish look at the production process at the Appleton Estate rum distillery,” said Kris Mattoon, AIB marketing coordinator and BMA co-sponsor.

“Some members had never flown on a plane before this trip,” Clark said. “Here they got to see how real Jamaicans live. They absorbed their culture, bartered with them and saw how they run their businesses and earn their livings. This was a truly rewarding experience for these students.”

At about the same time, 10 members of AIB’s Hospitality Travel Management Association (HTMA) traveled on a mission to promote tourism to Cozumel and support the efforts of Friends of Cozumel.

Co-founded by AIB alumnus Larry Pedersen, Friends of Cozumel is an informal network of people who share a common interest in benefitting families in need in Cozumel. On this trip, HTMA members not only delivered donated supplies, they also surprised Pedersen with a check for $350 from a campus fund-raising campaign in April.

“This trip was also a wonderful opportunity for the students to experience and become actively involved with the marketing of a tourist destination,” says Event, Hospitality and Tourism Management Professor Rita McClain, HTMA’s faculty advisor.

The HTMA members met twice with Pedro Hermosillo, Cozumel’s director of tourism. “What better way to see how the material covered in the classroom is applied in the real world,” says McClain. “Some of them had never left the country before, so it was their first time dealing with boarding passes and security. They were able to encounter a new culture, try new foods and drinks and have fun, all while giving back to the community they were in.”

Ann Wright, assistant professor and Business Administration Department chair, accompanied students from AIB’s International Practicum class on a trip to Paris last February. And McClain recently outlined plans for next year’s International Practicum class trip to Ireland and London.

Those trips come with higher price tags for students, but they’re still bargains. The eight-day Ireland/London trip includes personal tours and special events not necessarily available to individual tourists or large tour groups, such as visits to local family farms in Ireland. 

McClain encourages students to take advantage of all the trips they can.

“They are opportunities of a lifetime,” she says. “There is an expense, but the trips we put together are priceless.”

I want to go, too!