Denny Kobayashi - MA in Tourism Management
The Royal Roads experience raises the expectation bar…
It would be accurate to declare that my experience in the MA Tourism Management program does not simply meet and exceed expectations; it pushes the expectation bar higher. While in some instances this may not be a big deal, for a very mature student (more than twice the age of some members of my cohort), raising the expectation bar is not an effortless endeavor, and more than once begged the question “why am I doing this?”
Two years ago I had confirmed enrollment in a three week executive course at Queens, and an esteemed member of the Royal Roads University faculty caught me in a vulnerable moment at the Tourism Industry Association of Canada annual conference, and convinced me that the new Graduate Certificate in Destination Development would effectively serve my personal quest for learning, my employer, and the Yukon tourism industry. At the time I was a naïve, unsuspecting, and impressionable fellow with little or no knowledge of crash and burn study teams, Moodle (thought it must be some kind of savvy IT tool for Gen Xers), writer’s block, APA nausea, and mating peacocks.
What I discovered was a renewed passion for learning, incredible new friendships, faculty invested in our success, and an undeniable sense of accomplishment. What my wife discovered is that I am smarter than I look, not to interrupt me when I am in the writing zone (even with food), and that her prized spare room/potential sewing room was being surrendered to make room for text books, binders filled with academic papers, and post-it-note document maps on the walls. Alas, all is well as I am treating her to a trip to Hawaii on the heels of our convocation in October.
Since starting the MA program I have left the Department of Tourism to take on a more senior role in government, and there is no question that my pending Masters degree influenced my selection for the position. Beyond the tangible benefits is a sense of pride and achievement that simply makes me a happier person – yippee – how many things we do in our life have that result?
More importantly, the connection and lifelong friendships developed over the past two years with students and faculty are endearing and priceless™ (the symbol is for the MasterCard brand police – see I did learn something). It has been a blast!
