Last summer, Vaughn welcomed graduate students from the University of the West Indies to campus for a week-long series of tours as part of their graduate program in aviation management. This year, 11 more students from the University came to Vaughn for an aviation connection experience.

The students were welcomed to New York with a dinner cruise on the Hudson River. During the remainder of the week, the students discussed subjects ranging from human factors in aviation safety to air traffic control issues and attended tours of airports and facilities including LaGuardia Airport, Westchester County Airport, and JetBlue Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

“This program opens up new horizons for our students by seeing how operations may be handled differently in the US,” said Wendy Francette-Williams, one of the program’s administrators. “This year’s discussions were excellent, and my students were able to connect what they learned in the studies back home with what they saw on the tours.”

“Vaughn is a top-class institution,” added Kervyn Billouin, a student in the program. “The College allows us to have a great experience, because everything we need to see is here, and it’s not overwhelming. The facilities are great, the faculty is knowledgeable, and you get a real family feeling here.”

After the discussions and tours, the students enjoyed the local entertainment, including shopping, restaurants, and seeing “The Lion King” on Broadway. “The Lion King’ was marvelous; the actors have such incredible talent,” said student Rebecca Seepersad. “We don’t have theaters like that back home, so get that cultural experience was truly wonderful.”

“It was a pleasure to have these students here,” said Kalli Koutsoutis, assistant vice president of strategic planning and assessment. “We had an exceptionally good group this year, and we hope that they’ll remember Vaughn in their future travels. They are welcome here any time.”

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Students and administrators from the University of the West Indies. Back row (l. to r.): Roger Yee Shong, Robert Rooplal, Ramnarine Bissoondial, Marcus Windsor, Alfredo Rivas, Curtis Fraser and John-Boyd Briggs. Front row (l. to r.): Wendy Francette-Williams, Rebecca Seepersad, Iyona Batchasingh, Kervyn Billouin, Krystal Ramdath and Keith Joseph Castor.