Post by Cassandra Leonti
All I had ever wanted during my childhood was to be a princess when I grew up. Once I realized that this was no longer an option, and Prince William was probably a little bit out of my reach, I decided to start thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up. All I knew is that I wanted to be able to apply my obsessive compulsive organizational skills, along with my desire to just help others, and help make their day that much better.
When entering Temple University, I had already changed my major three times, from psychology, to speech pathology, then to therapeutic recreation, and that was all by the July before my freshman year even began. Toward the end of my freshman year, I had just been hired as an owl ambassador (a fancy name for a tour guide), and I was starting to realize that maybe health professions, along with anatomy, was not my calling. I absolutely still wanted to help people, but I realized that I really like to talk, and I want to be able to work with people and help them but still converse with them about every day things, something I may not be able to do by working as an independent occupational therapist. I began looking around at different options for majors, going through the entire list of every possible degree program that Temple offered.
One day when sitting in the owl ambassador office, an older owl, Maura, was in the back and she was talking about how she was working on her internships and basically just ravishing about how much she loves her major, tourism and hospitality management. She told me all about exactly what tourism and hospitality management is, and the different concentrations Temple has to offer. Right then and there I was sold. I knew that this was what I had been looking for, and I immediately made an appointment with the advisor for the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management.
I could not be happier with the major I chose, I feel like every day when I go to class I know that I am going to do something that I will always enjoy. I meet someone new each day and I learn a new aspect of what my major entails on a daily basis, as well as new information about different companies and organizations. With in the first month of me being an actual tourism and hospitality management major I was able to get myself out there an on to the executive board for the American Hotel & Lodging Association as their marketing and public relations coordinator, and now going on to my second semester in this program I’m becoming vice president. All of these opportunities continue to open up newer opportunities each and every day, and I could not be more thankful for the lessons I’ve learned and the one’s I’m going to learn in the future.