Student Exploration Program (S.T.E.P)- Check-in
The third installment of the Student Tourism Exploration Program (S.T.E.P), has been underway for the last few months. The program proudly hosts students from six Mesa high schools: Mountain View, Red Mountain, Mesa, Dobson, Westwood, and East Valley Academy, with a total of approximately 56 junior and senior students participating.
To recap, in October, the program introduced the students to an immersive “Meeting Planners for a Day” experience. The students visited three different hotels, assessing each one to determine the most suitable venue for their hypothetical event to gain hands-on understanding of a ‘Request for Proposal’ (RFP), a crucial component in the hospitality and event planning sector.
In November, students were lucky enough to tour Sloan Park, Spring Training facility home to the Chicago Cubs! They then went on to tour the Downtown Phoenix Arizona State University and learn potential degrees they could achieve to further their education in tourism.
There was brief pause in December due to the holidays and the students picked back up in January with a tour of Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport and neighboring Arizona Athletic Grounds. Students learned the importance of having an airport and the potential impacts of a state-of the-art sports facilities has on tourism in an area.
Their most recent adventure took them to Agritopia to go over Agri-tourism, agri-taniment, sustainable tourism, and how these components function as a whole to create their own community-like environment. After seeing the farm and businesses at Agritopia, the students than headed to Augusta Ranch Golf Course. Here, they explored economic impacts of golf courses, potential careers, and even got to swing a ball or two on their Top Tracer driving range.
The students have already learned so much and still have so much to learn! Next up on the list, students will engage in the learnings of a museum, tour city-owned buildings, and go through a networking/ job interview work shop.
If you are interested in learning more about the program, please contact us here.