Do you like to explore new destinations and cultures? Does working in a recreational career sound fun? Do you enjoy organizing vacations, parties, and events? Do inns and hotels interest you? If so, a world of adventure awaits you. Follow your interests down a career path that starts at RVTC. Our Tourism & Lodging Management program will inspire your creative mind and open up opportunities you never realized existed. And your studies here will include travel. Our past class trips have taken us on a cruise to the Bahamas, and to New York City, Boston, and Florida. After graduation, you can head right into a job with the training you receive here or continue your education with some of the college credits you’ve earned.

For the adventurous spirit, a career in the travel industry is fun and rewarding. As a travel agent, you can travel for half-price. When you work for an airline, you travel for free!

Program Highlights:
• Earn college credits.
• Take monthly field trips to Vermont hotels, resorts, and inns.
• Do job shadowing with area wedding and event planners.
• Learn airline reservations software.
• Research and plan a vacation.

Career Opportunities: Travel Agent • Innkeeper • Certified Hotel Employee • Airline or Hotel Reservationist • Event Planner • Wedding Planner
Concert Promoter • Activities Coordinator

YEAR ONE: Hospitality and Recreation Management I
Credit: 3-4 elective credits
Eligibility: Students in grades 11 and 12; grade 10 with permission
Prerequisites: None
Schedule: Full year; 2 hours per day

You ’ll begin your two-year program by exploring the many different career opportunities in the travel, recreation and hospitality industries. You’ll pursue your interests with a combination of classroom instruction, leadership projects. Site visits, and practical experiences. You’ll learn the technology used in today’s lodging operations and travel agencies. We’ll also cover principles of personnel management, customer service training, marketing, and business operations. Plus, you’ll learn strategies for interviewing, conflict resolution, and mediation. You’ll gain the analytical and technical communication skills you need to succeed. As part of the program, we’ll create a hospitality business and develop a business plan.

In the 2008/09 school year, Hospitality and Recreation Management I, will also be offered online.  To get more info about how the online course works, go to our Distance Ed Home Page: http://www.rvtc.org/den 

YEAR TWO: Hospitality and Recreation Management II
Credit: 1 embedded math, 2-3 elective credits
Eligibility: Students in grades 11 and 12; grade 10 with permission
Prerequisites: Grade of 70 or better in Tourism & Lodging Management I
Schedule: Full year; 2 hours per day

We’ll continue studying industry-related technology, organizational dynamics, advertising, marketing, management and communication strategies, along with public relations, sales promotion, and service training programs. Your studies will include the impact of media, social and cultural influences and math and business skills related to the hospitality industry. You’ll complete a master travel itinerary, an industry-related placement, and select a mentor within the area you choose. Seniors will participate in fieldwork for up to 15 hours per week in a chosen area. Level II students also participate in an annual destination class field trip. In the past, classes have been to Disney World,  Florida, a three-day cruise to the Bahamas,  New York City, and Virginia Beach to name a few. Where do you see yourself going?

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"I was very unsure of what I wanted to do before I entered the Tech Center. I found Tourism and Lodging Management and met the teacher and suddenly I knew that I had to know more about this program and that I wanted Mrs. B. to teach me. So I took the class and fell in love. It opened me up to the world of travel. It made me focus on something in line and really work towards that goal for two years."

"This program gives me something to look forward to. It makes me want to go to school and has given me a wide outlook on life.
Ms. Buehler says, 'Those that put the most in life get the most out of life.'"

"I hated school before starting in Tourism, and I did very poorly. Now I love going to school because I enjoy what I am doing.
I also get all A's and B's!"