August 27, 2008
NEWS
Page 3
Program makes traveling a possible career “The goal is to make students employable and keep them employed” Rachel Santos Staff Writer
The travel and tourism program is one of the many programs that Miami Dade College North Campus offers. It is under the school of business and it is the only licensed school program in South Florida that represents the travel institute professional certifications. Through the program, students become familiar with all aspects of the travel industry, which includes getting to know destinations and geography, learning the skills that are required for employment, and working with updated technology while being in a diverse environment.
“You learn so much and they bring a lot to the classrooms, they help you a lot,” said Rebecca Geneve, a hospitality and travel and tourism management major. The program offers scholarship workshops, fieldtrips, fundraising events through the club and the travel and tourism student association, where students can get involved. It helps students with their career development, job placement, and provides them with university transfer assistance. The primary focus in the classrooms is obtaining a job in this industry that contributes so much to the economy and is the number one industry in the world. “The goal is to make students employable but keep them employed,” said MDCʼs travel and tourism management program professor, Sandra M. Washington.
“The program helped me enhance my skills and it gave me the opportunity to obtain a scholarship: the push that I received from my professors was amazing.”
Travel management major Karine Smith Bandeh
Photo provided by the Travel and Tourism program
There are many job opportunities in the travel industry. Professors make sure to prepare students not only for employment but for those who want a career in the field and who wish to advance into a higher level of employment. “The program helped me enhance my skills and it gave me the opportunity to
obtain a scholarship: the push that I received from my professors was amazing,” said Karine Smith Bandeh, a travel management major. The program has helped hundreds of students achieve academic success and create opportunities for themselves in different branches of the travel and tourism industry.
Academic Advisement makes scheduling easier Michael Finch Staff Writer Before youʼre swept into the stressful world of academia, remember that youʼre not alone in the sometimes overwhelming decision making life of a college student. Miami Dade College North Campus offers services that help students be successful in their school work. To ensure a promising start, a trip to the academic advisement office would be essential for choosing your student schedule. According to Sandra Martinez, director of academic advisement at the North Campus, first year students should visit the advisement office a minimum of three times during their first semester. “Itʼs ideal that first year students come at least six weeks before the approaching term, followed by another session four to six weeks into their first term to create an Individual Education Plan (IEP), and then eight weeks prior to the next term to choose quality classes,” Martinez said. The IEP is designed to show students the classes they need for their major and the recommended order they should be taken, where it then poses as a blueprint for students to follow. This makes it easy
for students to enroll into classes without the direct assistance of an adviser. “[However], many of our students are too dependent upon us,” said Grace Herring-Graham, an adviser/intervention specialist at department. “An IEP is only efficient if the student follows it”. It saves time and money for students to develop a relationship with their respective adviser, because each institution has a culture and a climate that academic advisers are aware of. “When first year students come to academic advisement they often have the misconception of what college is, we have to then explain that weʼre only here to help prepare students as an adult,” said Herring-Graham. “Ultimately, they can graduate and matriculate on to a higher institution. There is not as much support as in high school.” Still, high school graduates should not shy away from stopping by the academic office at any time throughout the year. “Through a relationship with an adviser, you can improve your knowledge for your desired field and we can also help students interpret test scores, career planning, transferring, and graduation preparation,” said Martinez. “A quality advisement session can take anywhere from 20 minutes to one hour.”
CRUISING AROUND: Students from the program have fun on a cruise.
ACCESS aids disabled students in succeeding at school A $900,000 grant makes college more accessible for students with disabilities Belkis Perez Staff Writer Some students walk right through the door while others depend on someone to open it. Miami Dade College North Campus offers disabled students facilities through a program known as ACCESS. ACCESS is a department responsible for providing students with disabilities with equipment and services for them to be successful. This department serves about 600 students at the North Campus and about 2,100 students college wide. ACCESS services numerous types of disabilities ranging from mobility to assisting the blind. All of these services are free to the students who may need
them. It also offers tutoring, interpreters, note takers, equipment training, and any equipment needed to assist the student. “What our department does is to provide these things that allow students with disabilities to do what everyone else does,” said Paul Edwards, director of ACCESS. ACCESS helps students with disabilities by providing them with desks in the classrooms in which their wheelchairs fit. For students who have disabilities in their hands, they are provided with computers that students talk to and the computer types for them. “ACCESS students have to meet the same requirements as any other Miami Dade College student,” Edwards said. The ACCESS program facilitates students with disabilities, but being in this
program doesnʼt mean that these students are expected to perform any less than other MDC students. This program allows them to act like any other student without any barriers. The ACCESS staff challenges the students but at the same time assists them with their special needs, helping the program thrive. On campus, there is a disabilities organization known as “Abilities Unlimited,” and two years ago they filed a report on areas around the campus that could be improved to help disabled students. “That report is part of the reason why we have automatic doors,” said Edwards. Last year was the first time ACCESS was given a budget of about $900,000 to
help make the college more accessible to handicapped students. ACCESS also offers special classes, like CGS 1081 which is for disabled students and it is similar to CGS 1060, introduction to computers. In this class students with disabilities learn everything that is taught in the other computer class but they also learn how to manage the computer according to their special needs. Also, with this budget new ramps and disabled parking spaces have been put all around campus. Edwards said offering all this assistance to disabled students helps them see that they can participate in anything they want. “We are trying to make changes around the campus so that the students can participate in anything they want,” Edwards said.