Student Profiles
Emma Walker is one of QRC's inaugural intake of Diploma of Hospitality Management students who first arrived in April ’06.
George Gaddum, NZ, Hospitality Management
Diploma of Hospitality Management student, George Gaddum, has seen more of life than most people twice his age. Now, with his sights firmly set on his career goals, George gives a unique insight into where hospitality qualifications can take you…
“When I finished school in New Zealand I took a Gap year to Tanzania where I taught English at a school for impoverished children. The school was sponsored by private schools in England but part of my job was to find funding for those kids to live. I needed to find money for food, uniforms, books and housing. I totally want to get back into that line of work but there would be kids on my front porch before I even got up in the morning and it got a bit overwhelming.
I then went travelling to Kenya for a month and met a nurse who invited me to go to Ethiopia to work for the Missionary of Charity Hospice – the same organisation that Mother Theresa set up for sick and dying destitutes. It was amazing – I have no medical background but found myself on the first night sleeping on the floor outside the TB ward listening to the coughing and wondering what I could do to make a difference. I stayed working in Ethiopia for nearly five months before I decided I needed a qualification. I came home and enrolled in nursing but wanted management skills and the people skills and the life skills so I decided on Hospitality Management at QRC. In a sense I see a school or a hospital or a prison is not a lot different to a hotel.
I’ve started my elective in Resort Management and we are talking about resorts overseas and how they can put so much back into society or a community. Some of the properties over there generate incredible employment – that’s a new interest I’ve developed since I have been at QRC – it’s about helping people on a different level rather than just through aid work.
Ironically, a lot of people that I met overseas had done hospitality training. It is a qualification that teaches you how to run an organisation. I actually met a guy who had studied at Cesar Ritz and was the co-ordinator at a hospital on the Kenyan-Sudan border – I think the options and opportunities are endless”.
From the wilds of Africa to the shores of Lake Wakatipu, Graeme Sharp has come a long way around the world to pursue his career.
Former Rotorua Lakes High School student, Jacob McDonald, is the very-deserving recipient of QRC's 2007 National Scholarship.
Jehan Driver has been in the country just a few months and is already looking to stay as long as possible.
Joining the July ATM intake is 23 year old Swiss student, Makoto Bruderer.
"Being in Queenstown is great - it is the best place to learn with all the mountains and activities here".
Adam Tomlinson is the winner of the 2008 Diploma of Hospitality Management Scholarship.
Growing up in Nelson, 18 year old Nikolai Heaphy-Page has always been involved in the great outdoors.
