What work and non-work experiences, academic interests, and career goals influenced your decision to study hospitality management? How will these contribute to your success at the School of Hotel Administration?
How much money do you want to make each year (when you grow up)? This simple question is typically responded with a long lull then followed by an answer of uncertainty. However, when I was fourteen years old, my father asked me that exact question in front of an employee at his Holiday Inn, and I surely responded "Five million dollars." He beamed with delight at me, and his employee enthusiastically said, "Wow, such big ambitions." Whether or not both adult figures in that instance had undermined my competence of my bold statement, I was confident in my answer, and I had every right to be certain at that time.
Given my prior hotel experiences, I continue to believe that I could successfully make that claim. I have lived and breathed hotels and motels businesses from the very beginning of my childhood. Being a curious child, I naturally followed and observed my parents' day-to-day tasks at their motel, carefully observing how they checked-in guests, washed used linen, cleaned rooms, handled administration, etc. As my father expanded his business to franchised hotels, I had taken every opportunity to understand how an administration was to work. I went with my dad on the weekends to his corporate office, quietly observing how he and his administration handled internal affairs such as monthly pay checks, GM meetings, and relations with third-party companies. I had started to understand how a hotels functions from the perspective of CEO to the perspective of a hotel employee.
When Governor Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency in Louisiana because of Hurricane Katrina's imminent threat, I had thus realized a partial reason why my father worked in the hospitality industry. During that hurricane, my father took in refugees and allowed them to stay in his hotels which are in-land. I saw crowds of guests staying in the lobby room, offering to reassurance to each other. My dad had given these refugees safety, a temporary home, and reassurance that they can get through the imminent threat (Hurricane Katrina) together -he had given them an understanding of homeliness. I knew then, at that moment, that hotels and motels foster homeliness to all guests --vacationers, refugees, businessmen (and businesswomen), etc. Through that homeliness, hotels and motels maintain and build a fellowship between the gamut of guests (and intrinsically the world). Being cognizant of the values instilled by hotels and motels, I knew what I had wanted to do as a career, and how to do it.
I have tried to become even further involved in many more hospitality after my new-found awareness. I have gone to many hotels conferences (Holiday Inn, Best Western, and AAHOA) and learned more about third party venders. Recently, after an extensive talk with my dad, I had invested a large portion of my trust fund toward my uncle's hotel, now owning a large share of the hotel. I have worked at a Marriot Towne-Suites hotel as a night auditor, learning in-depth of administrative and front desk roles. When Dean Johnson and Alumni Director Meg Keilbach talked to me in New Orleans about what their School of Hotel Administration can offer to me, I was enthralled! I eagerly wait to successfully learn from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University because perhaps I look forward to making my uncle's hotel more successful with innovative ideas, or bringing about a further unity between people through hotels and motels, or fulfilliling my own personal goal of earning five million dollars through hotel work. Hotels and motels is a subject I genuinely know and love, and receiving at School of Hotel Administration will guide me towards fulfilling these wishes.
How much money do you want to make each year (when you grow up)? This simple question is typically responded with a long lull then followed by an answer of uncertainty. However, when I was fourteen years old, my father asked me that exact question in front of an employee at his Holiday Inn, and I surely responded "Five million dollars." He beamed with delight at me, and his employee enthusiastically said, "Wow, such big ambitions." Whether or not both adult figures in that instance had undermined my competence of my bold statement, I was confident in my answer, and I had every right to be certain at that time.
Given my prior hotel experiences, I continue to believe that I could successfully make that claim. I have lived and breathed hotels and motels businesses from the very beginning of my childhood. Being a curious child, I naturally followed and observed my parents' day-to-day tasks at their motel, carefully observing how they checked-in guests, washed used linen, cleaned rooms, handled administration, etc. As my father expanded his business to franchised hotels, I had taken every opportunity to understand how an administration was to work. I went with my dad on the weekends to his corporate office, quietly observing how he and his administration handled internal affairs such as monthly pay checks, GM meetings, and relations with third-party companies. I had started to understand how a hotels functions from the perspective of CEO to the perspective of a hotel employee.
When Governor Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency in Louisiana because of Hurricane Katrina's imminent threat, I had thus realized a partial reason why my father worked in the hospitality industry. During that hurricane, my father took in refugees and allowed them to stay in his hotels which are in-land. I saw crowds of guests staying in the lobby room, offering to reassurance to each other. My dad had given these refugees safety, a temporary home, and reassurance that they can get through the imminent threat (Hurricane Katrina) together -he had given them an understanding of homeliness. I knew then, at that moment, that hotels and motels foster homeliness to all guests --vacationers, refugees, businessmen (and businesswomen), etc. Through that homeliness, hotels and motels maintain and build a fellowship between the gamut of guests (and intrinsically the world). Being cognizant of the values instilled by hotels and motels, I knew what I had wanted to do as a career, and how to do it.
I have tried to become even further involved in many more hospitality after my new-found awareness. I have gone to many hotels conferences (Holiday Inn, Best Western, and AAHOA) and learned more about third party venders. Recently, after an extensive talk with my dad, I had invested a large portion of my trust fund toward my uncle's hotel, now owning a large share of the hotel. I have worked at a Marriot Towne-Suites hotel as a night auditor, learning in-depth of administrative and front desk roles. When Dean Johnson and Alumni Director Meg Keilbach talked to me in New Orleans about what their School of Hotel Administration can offer to me, I was enthralled! I eagerly wait to successfully learn from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University because perhaps I look forward to making my uncle's hotel more successful with innovative ideas, or bringing about a further unity between people through hotels and motels, or fulfilliling my own personal goal of earning five million dollars through hotel work. Hotels and motels is a subject I genuinely know and love, and receiving at School of Hotel Administration will guide me towards fulfilling these wishes.
