美高梅故事

带头冲锋： 

VC毕业生在 酒店管理，这要感谢迪士尼Aspire

——琳达·施里夫斯

When Teagan荷兰 was in high school in Massachusetts, his practical side told him 获得商业学位，进入职场. 但他冒险的一面想要 去旅行.

于是，蒂根开始跳出思维定势. 为什么不学习呢？ 酒店管理, he thought, so he could combine his love of travel and study business at the same time?

And he figured, if he was going to study 酒店管理, why not study at the epicenter of hospitality in the United States – in Orlando, Florida?

“我来到 美高梅 just to be around the hospitality scene in Orlando itself,” 说Teagan. “在其他 在国内其他地方的学校，你会了解到 酒店管理 ——然后去别的地方工作.”

这就是促使现年20岁的霍兰德离开马萨诸塞州的原因 在…学习 澳门美高梅网上赌场官网学院的迪斯尼世界烹饪艺术学院 & 热情好客.

但蒂根的故事并不止于此.

When Teagan arrived at 美高梅 in August 2021, he immediately got involved 在校园. 他住在市中心校区，在UnionWest的学生公寓里.

到2021年10月，他在迪士尼乐园找到了一份工作.

There, he works 30 hours a week, driving trams and working on the parking team at 迪士尼动物王国主题公园. 他通常每周工作四天 Thursday through Sunday, which leaves him free for classes Monday through Wednesday.

Teagan opted to join the parking and transportation team because he’d already worked 高中的时候在餐馆吃饭，然后 he 想接触一下酒店行业的另一面. 在迪士尼世界， 他想，这样他就能更多地了解主题公园的业务. 但这并不是唯一的原因 好处.

By August of 2022, Teagan had established Florida residency and was officially a Disney Aspire student, meaning that the theme park giant pays the cost of his tuition.

“Disney Aspire covers all my tuition upfront and reimburses me for my books and class-related 缇根说. “澳门美高梅网上赌场都是预付的. 有些公司会给你报销， 但在迪士尼，他们会预先支付所有费用.”

In May, Teagan graduated from 美高梅 and is transferring to the University of Central Florida’s Rosen School of 热情好客, where Disney’s Aspire program will 继续支付他的学费.

 

 

加入俱乐部

Between classes and work, Teagan was busy, but when he arrived at Valencia as a freshman, he immediately joined the Valencia 热情好客 Society, a club and service organization 酒店管理专业.

Club members volunteer to help at many events in the Orlando area, including the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament, where they served as servers in VIP帐篷. 俱乐部成员还在其他一些备受瞩目的活动中担任志愿者 in the area, including Give Kids the World fundraisers and the annual Barbecue in 该公园由奥兰多经济合作组织主办.

在 his first year in the club, Teagan organized a “Friendsgiving” event at the Downtown Campus, to host a traditional American 感恩节 meal for international students and any American students who couldn’t go home for the holiday.

“I wasn’t going home for 感恩节 that year and my parents weren’t coming down,” 说Teagan. “当时我住在联西，我想，肯定有 other students who weren’t going home either because it’s such a short break.”
The first year, it was a surprising success – and the event continues to grow. “我们 开始在整个大学看到这种情况. 我们与住房部门合作，并在电视上发布 校园. 对于从来没有美国化过的美高梅来说，这很有趣 感恩节.”

Over the past year, as president of the club, Teagan helped organize the volunteer events – and the club’s annual trip to Chicago for the National Restaurant Show. 在 the show, hospitality students learn about the food and beverage industry from an 内幕的角度来看. 蒂根和其他俱乐部成员也帮助组织了这次旅行， 预订机票、酒店和购买活动门票.

For his work with the Valencia 热情好客 Society, in January, Teagan flew to Los Angeles, where he was honored at the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s annual 千星之夜晚会. 在那里，AHLA官员承认是 a top candidate for the Scholar of the Year award – which is remarkable for a student 从两年制大学毕业.

Officials at AHLA were impressed with Teagan’s leadership – and the fact that he was 决赛让他们重新考虑如何颁发奖学金.

 

 

“Teagan was the top community college applicant,” said Andrew Whitson of the AHLA. “The scoring system is tough for a community college to compete with 4-year students since it considers years of experience within the industry and level of involvement. Teagan was just a few decimal points away from being one of the award winners.”
Teagan was so impressive showing, Whitson said, that the organization may expand the scholarship program to include at least one community college recipient in the future.

“这是一项了不起的壮举，”惠特森补充道.

在晚会上，蒂根和来自美国30个国家的其他125名学生大使.S. 大学有 the chance to meet a number of industry professionals, including the CEOs of Marriott 以及凯悦和其他连锁酒店.

At that event, Teagan cemented his feeling that 美高梅 was a good choice 为他.

“At a lot of other schools, the professors have never worked in the industry. 他们 商业教授，”蒂根说. “澳门美高梅网上赌场官网的教师有很多现实世界的经验. They either work in the industry now or they have worked in the industry. 他们把 us out of the classroom a lot to apply what we’re learning at hotels and restaurants.”

As for his future after college, Teagan thinks the hotel industry is appealing.  “I’d like to work with other hotel companies from around the country – and get the opportunity 在公司内部成长，”他说.