Countdown to career opportunities begins
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley is strengthening their relationship with employer partners such as The Tourism and Hospitality Department at SpaceX, giving Vaqueros an inside to future career opportunities.
On Aug. 20, 18 UTRGV students attended a tour of the Starbase facilities as part of a collaboration between UTRGV’s College of Business and Entrepreneurship and the spacecraft company.
“The SpaceX tour showed me how innovation, collaboration and a clear mission drive their success,” said Angela Cruz, a UTRGV business administration senior on the SpaceX reflections survey.“I gained insight into their fast-paced culture where adaptability and teamwork are essential.”
The university established a relationship over five years ago when faculty was given a tour of the facilities when it was first known as SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica.
Since their last visit, SpaceX has built five different hospitality outlets and are currently building a hotel for visiting staff, according to Marcel Fortuin, UTRGV lecturer for the Hospitality and Tourism Management program.
“To staff all these different outlets, they reach out to us for interns,” Fortuin said. “I really think [students] would learn how multifaceted hospitality actually is.”
One “roadblock” the private company has come across when recruiting interns from cities such as Austin and Dallas is the lack of commitment to stay in the Rio Grande Valley, according to Jerome Wiggins, career adviser of Robert C. Vackar College of Business & Entrepreneurship at UTRGV.
“It is important for us to provide our students with more career pathways in the Valley where they don’t necessarily have to leave and they could find a good sustainable job here in the Valley,” Wiggins said.
During the facilities tour students were given presentations and got their resumes reviewed by SpaceX representatives with the hope of landing an internship.
“They’ll be having some internal conversations about which candidate they feel is best for each individual department,” Wiggins said. “They’re going to let us know who they decide to offer these internships to.”
Under HOST 2310 Introduction to Food Preparation and Menu Plan, Fortuin’s course offers on-hand experience in the kitchen to prepare students for career opportunities such as internships with SpaceX and Marriott.
“By the end of the course [students] are certified food managers,” Fortuin said. “We also have connections with Town Place, Margaritaville Resorts & Hotels, and The Delgado Collective, which is a local restaurant chain.”
Students looking to network and for possible career opportunities can stop by The Hospitality and Tourism Career Connect from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sept. 30 at the University Library Lobby on the Edinburg campus.
According to Wiggins, restaurants, resorts, hotels and event planning businesses will be in attendance.
“We’re going to have a lot of resorts from South Padre Island,” Wiggins said. “SpaceX [and restaurants] will be in attendance.”
If you’re a Vaquero looking for internships, part-time and full time opportunities you can reach out to Wiggins via email at jerome.wiggins01@utrgv.edu.
To learn more about professional career opportunities visit UTRGV’s Hospitality and Tourism department website.
