In April, students, faculty and staff hosted a luncheon honoring Chris Rhoads, general manager for LaGuardia Airport and Susana Desa, vice president of operations at John F. Kennedy International Airport, for their contributions to student activity and growth at the College. Rhoads and Desa spoke about their day-to-day responsibilities at each airport and how they landed in their current positions. Students had the opportunity to ask questions to each of them regarding career advice.

Following the luncheon, students were invited to attend a behind-the-scenes-tour of LaGuardia Airport. The tour began with meeting LaGuardia staff and saw first-hand how LaGuardia handles extreme weather situations including the snowplow equipment used to clear the runways. Next, students were introduced to firefighters from the LaGuardia Airport fire station and learned how they train and handle emergency situations and then saw where passenger lost baggage is taken and handled, including the use of autonomous robots to assist in the process. 

“We were honored the senior leadership of LaGuardia Airport led a marvelous and informative tour of the facility,” said Dr. Maxine Lubner, chair of the management department at Vaughn. “We learned about the multitude of ever-changing experiences of working at an airport including information about airport operations, management and general leadership skills.”