The Future Looks Bright

2017 BSAP Ambassadors Honoured In Toronto

Well that was quite a celebration.

In today’s feature photo, from l to r, giving the thumbs up for the 2017 edition of the Baxter Student Ambassador Program are: Seneca’s Sean Price; WestJet Vacations’ director of product, Dave Cecco; Jessica Turda, Seneca College’s BSAP Ambassador; Jenny Kim, Sheridan College’s BSAP Ambassador; and Roger Halfacre of Sheridan College

The Baxter Student Awards Program (BSAP) has added 12 new Ambassadors to its ranks and it did in style, with a Awards luncheon at Toronto’s Chelsea Hotel. Close to 60 students, educators and travel industry types were on hand for the event that introduce some bright new stars to the Canadian travel and tourism business. For those of you who don’t know, BSAP is the only student mentoring program of its kind in Canada and it aims to help each student make their dream a reality.

Transat has been a BSAP supporter from the beginning and here, Dan Prior, sales manager for Ontario and Atlantic Canada for Transat accepts the student ambassador award for BCIT’s Alina Doaga, who was unable to attend this year’s awards ceremony.

Based on a combination of academic success, community involvement, and leadership skills, the BSAP identifies the most-promising student talent in travel, tourism and hospitality programs at Canada’s leading colleges and universities. Then, through a skill-testing webinar presentation, one graduating student from each of this year’s 12 participating schools is selected as the Baxter Student Ambassador to represent their school. Winning students will get a kick-start to their careers through a variety of networking and learning opportunities, plus the chance to gain hands-on experience through an internship or travel prize.

“We went from 1 to 12 schools in just three years, and already have more interest for next year’s program,” said Wendy McClung, executive vice-president, operations for Baxter Travel Media and a BSAP Director.

It all started with Humber College and here Kevin Smith, program coordinator at Humber celebrates with student ambassador, Dhvani Gandhi.

“As we continue to grow, we’re excited to work with other dedicated industry partners, all committed to inspiring and supporting the next generation of travel industry stars,” McClung added.

BSAP’s 2017 sponsors included Contiki, Transat, WestJet, Collette, Israel, TPI, Skal, Chelsea Hotel, Niagara Helicopters, ACTA, Big Bark and TIAO. While the 12 participating schools included Algonquin, British Columbia Institute of Technology, Capilano, Centennial, Confederation, Fanshawe, Fleming, Georgian, Humber, Ryerson, Seneca and Sheridan.

As for BSAP’s 2017 Ambassadors, they were:

Julie Cain, Fleming College
Alina Doaga, BCIT

Contiki’s Jenni Berg poses with Patti Healy of Fleming College and student ambassador, Julie Cain of Fleming College.

Brie Kelly, Capilano University
Curtis Brown, Algonquin College
Jenny Kim, Sheridan College
Jessica Turda, Seneca College
Katherine Lo, Ryerson University
Cheryl Trikha, Centennial College
Kristina Norman, Fanshawe College
Jacquiline Dmytryshyn, Georgian College
Seija McKay, Confederation College
Dhvani Gandhi, Humber College

If you want to learn more about BSAP, check out this week’s Travel Courier and its special feature on the program by clicking here.