Student & Grad Activities

What do high school students from Vancouver, Port Moody, Surrey, West Vancouver, and Burnaby have in common?

Visitors to BC coming from all over the world will once again be helped by high school students from the Lower Mainland. Every summer, a select group of Grade 10 - 12 students volunteer around 100 hours each to the tourism industry as counsellors for the Visitors Information Centre (VIC) at the Pacific Central Station. Last year, students hailed from Britannia, Burnaby South Secondary, Churchill, Eric Hamber, Gladstone, Lord Byng, Port Moody Secondary, Prince of Wales, Queen Elizabeth, Sentinel, Van Tech, and West Van Secondary. From July to September over 25 multi-lingual students will promote tourism in and around beautiful BC. The counsellors entertain thousands of visitors coming through the multi-modal station, home to VIA Rail, Rocky Mountaineer, Amtrak, Greyhound, Pacific Coach Lines and more. "I think we are all very needed by many people and they really appreciate our services. I love working with people from all over the world and helping them with their questions about our province" commented Sarah one of the volunteers.

Since its inception in 1997, the VIC has been operated and managed by industry leader Tourism Training Institute, a private post-secondary educational institution, as goodwill to the community. Fred John, a retired teacher from Princess Margaret School, volunteers his time annually by supervising the counsellors to ensure smooth operation of the VIC. A rewarding experience, VIC has seen over a hundred volunteers who generally participate to fulfill career prep hours. Some of these students have pursued a career in tourism and were hired by companies such as VIA Rail, Rocky Mountaineer and the Hilton Metrotown. For more information or to volunteer, contact Tourism Training Institute at (604) 736-7008.

Carmel C. ...Led the valedictorian address at the summer 2006 Celebration of Success

A beautiful summer day allowed the graduation ceremonies to take place on TTI's balcony. With over 50 students their family members and friends in attendance the recognition ceremony went off without a hitch. Smitty Miller, TTI's admissions officer emceed the event which ended with everyone watching HSBC's Celebration of Light - way to go TTI team for putting together a memorable evening for our grad's. Thanks to Rick Sair, GM of the Best Western Uptown, for taking the time to address the students recognizing the importance of education provided to them at TTI.