Travel industry awards 55 scholarships to new generation

Cris DeSouzas is hoping for a career involving sustainability and environmental stewardship programs. Stephanie Warner hopes to guide groups into the wilderness.

Both young women won scholarships last week from Tourism Cares, in a program that awarded 55 prizes to high school, college, and graduate students of travel, tourism, and hospitality-related programs in the United States and Canada.

The scholarships range from $1,000 to $5,000, for a total of more than $70,000.

DeSouzas won the ASTA Simmons Scholarship, and Warner won the ASTA Princess Cruises Scholarship.

Tourism Cares is an independent non-profit that manages the scholarship programs of the American Society of Travel Agents, the International Air Transport Association, and the National Tourism Association. Of the 55 scholarships awarded this year, 16 were for ASTA, 10 were IATAN (double the number from last year), and 29 were for NTA.

Student programs coordinator Amanda D’Aiuto said Tourism Cares received 180 applications this year, a new record.

Scholarship winners hope to work everywhere from travel magazines to restaurants.  

Hope Paccione, for example, said she "hopes to someday have a career that allows me to mix my passion for the tourism industry and my love of sports."

Mary Ondari plans to one day be part of Basecamp Foundation, a sustainable tourism company in Kenya.

The winners were chosen by an independent scholarship review committee of educators, based on resumes, experience through internships and part-time jobs, grades in travel courses, an essay, and letters of recommendation.

Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada (except for graduate research scholarships, which are international) and maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or above.

Scholarship applications for 2014 are due April 1. For more information, contact Tourism Cares Scholarship Department at [email protected].

To establish a scholarship fund, or donate to an existing fund, contact Amanda D’Aiuto at 781-821-5990 x 215.

The American Society of Travel Agents, meanwhile, is currently accepting nominations for its Exra Mile Award, as a way to "highlight and show appreciation to an agent who has awakened at 3 a.m. to resolve a hotel problem, had to re-plan an entire trip after a travel advisory was issued or simply went that extra step to make a customer’s trip perfect."