Two students studying International Tourism Management and International Hospitality Management at Robert Gordon University (RGU) have won prestigious industry awards in their final year of study.
Peigi Rodan won the Tourism Management Institute’s (TMI) David Hughes Memorial Award and Leonora Ramos Brebner was the winner of the Council for Hospitality Management’s (CHME) Young Guns Award.
Both awards are presented to students for the outstanding quality of the reports they prepare following their third year placements. Peigi spent a year in Santiago in Chile, working for a tourism company specialising in city bike tours and bike and vineyard tours. She also worked for the sister company which leads walking tours of Chile. Leonora spent a year in the USA, working in two private country clubs in upstate New York and in Key Largo, Florida.
"It really has been wonderful to see the great efforts of Leo and Peigi being recognised with these awards,” said Craig Leith, Subject Leader for Hospitality, Tourism and Events at RGU’s School of Creative and Cultural Business. “Both Peigi and Leo were up against strong competition from across the UK but the feedback from TMI and CHME made it clear that both were very worthy winners.
“This confirms once again the extremely high calibre of students we have on the International tourism Management and International Hospitality Management courses at the School. I’m really looking forward to seeing Peigi and Leo go on to further successes throughout their careers."
This is the second year in a row that an RGU student has won the David Hughes Memorial Award which is awarded to a student on a TMI recognised course. The judges praised Peigi’s passion and enthusiasm for people, her self-motivation and awareness of how the skills and knowledge she gained during her placement could be used across the wider industry.
Young Guns awards are presented annually to recipients selected by judges as shining examples of today’s hospitality students who will be champions for the industry. Candidates are asked to demonstrate how their skills and the knowledge developed throughout their placement can impact on their careers. In many cases, winners of Young Guns awards are offered employment with a high profile hospitality business as a direct result of their success in the awards.