With a 17-year history and a participant list that reads like a who's who of the Las Vegas hospitality industry, the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration's Mentor Program has exposed many students to the real-life experiences of the industry. When Professor Andy Nazarechuk (now the dean of the Singapore campus) began the program in 1993, it was with the intent to connect students with professionals.
"I thought it was important for students to develop one friend in the industry," says Nazarechuk. He began by contacting 34 of his industry friends and hotel alumni, and by the time he left the program in 2004, close to 2,500 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ students had found mentors in the hotel industry.
In the beginning, mentors were required to take their mentees out to lunch, and students were required to reciprocate. Everyone joked about how much better the mentors were at finding good restaurants than the students. Mentors were asked to share with their mentees their experiences, including stories of how they became involved in the industry, while the students were encouraged to have their mentors visit campus or give presentations. In short, they were encouraged to get to know more about each others' professional lives.
While the original mentor class had 15 alumni mentors, this year's program matched 135 mentor/mentee pairings. The nine-month curriculum is designed to match hotel college juniors, seniors, and graduate students with hospitality managers in the Las Vegas community.
"The program provides real-world exposure that we simply cannot provide in the classroom environment," says Bobbie Barnes, director of the Boughner Career Services Center and the manager of today's Mentor Program. "In fact, many participating students have cited the program as one of the highlights of their collegiate studies."
Assisting Barnes is student liaison Anastasia Camras. "My main responsibility is being an active presence on campus for the program, promoting it to other students, and answering any questions they may have," says Camras. "Due to my exposure with the program, I have found myself promoting it to prospective mentors within the industry as well. "Camras has her own mentor success story. "I was very lucky with my previous mentor, Tim Wright, the general manager of Green Valley Ranch Casino Resort. I had an intimate view into all the departments, from hotel operations to gaming. My current mentor is Cindy O'Keefe, the vice president of hotel operations for Caesars Palace, a much larger hotel. The business models of the two properties are so vastly different."
Another of this year's mentees is Quynh Dam, an undergraduate student who aspires to be a casino controller. As someone who came to America as a 13-year-old from Vietnam, Dam believes that "in America, you can work hard to achieve your goals." As a young teen, the uncle who encouraged her to move to America brought her on a trip to Las Vegas, and as she remembers, "It seemed like a wonderland to me. In most of the Asian countries, gambling is not thought of as a good pastime, but I was in awe of this place."
Although she never thought she might some day work in the hospitality industry, her father (who still lives in Vietnam despite numerous attempts to leave) told her to find something specialized to study. "In Asia, many parents force their children to study medicine or law or engineering, but my father thought if I discovered something I truly enjoyed, there would be less competition later," recalls Dam. "I struggled with the idea - I had already been accepted to UCLA to study business - but upon remembering that magical trip to Las Vegas years earlier, I decided to look into 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ."
Dam was paired with longtime mentor Diana Hewitt, Bellagio's director of pit clerk operations. Hewitt, who has been with MGM MIRAGE for 24 years, is a dedicated employee, which forms the foundation of a perfect mentor.
"I first became involved in the mentor program after meeting Dr. Nazarechuk while I was participating in a job fair on campus," says Hewitt. "When he explained the program to me, I didn't have to be convinced - it sounded great!" Hewitt has had a mentee nearly every year since 1999 and for a few years even had more than one at a time. "It becomes a relationship like they're my children," she says. "I've gotten to be part of some great success stories, and they help me immensely. They sit in the pit, observe, help out in the office, and I basically get them up to speed with what the job entails. It's so rewarding that I almost feel guilty about it!"
According to Dam, "Diana has been a wonderful mentor. She has introduced me to so many people within the company who do exactly what I hope to. The mentor program has helped me get in touch with the right people, improved my networking skills, and helped me learn what the various jobs entail."
A mentor who is also actively involved with the program is the operations controller of ARIA Resort & Casino, Doug Walker. "I found out about the program when I was teaching as an adjunct professor at the college in the mid-'90s," he says. "I chose to become involved because as a former teacher and a manager in the hospitality industry, I feel that I can contribute to students' development. Also, the program is a successful platform for encouraging and recruiting future industry leaders."
One of Walker's mentees who has graduated is Jolie Duhon, who now works as the room service manager at the world's largest hotel, the MGM Grand. Currently, Walker is mentoring Doug Smith, a student who would like to eventually attend law school. "I graduated from 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ's Boyd Law School and became an attorney," says Walker. "I'm currently giving Doug advice and preparing him for the LSAT exam and what to expect during his first year in law school based on my personal experience."
"Doug is a lawyer, and we were paired together because I plan to attend law school myself in the near future," says Smith. "He impressed me from the start with his experience, his professionalism, and his encyclopedic knowledge of the law. I felt that he symbolized everything a good lawyer should be."
Smith believes you should never be afraid to express your doubts to your mentor. "Their very purpose is to help you address those doubts," he believes. "The second thing is that you should listen to everything your mentor says, internalize it, and find a way to apply it to your own life. Good mentors open our eyes to new possibilities and help us chart new courses by tapping into the strengths within ourselves."
Erin Mcilveen has spent this year paired with mentor Mark Hellrung, general manager of the Four Seasons Las Vegas. "The most important thing I have learned from Mr. Hellrung is leadership," she says. "It's an integral part of effective management, and I am fortunate to learn from my mentor how it has helped him succeed. From our discussions, he has taught me that it is important for college students to develop leadership skills both inside and outside of the classroom if they want to be successful in their future careers."
McIlveen also comments that the mentor experience has taught her that the hospitality industry is "a people industry, and there are many people around you who want to help you succeed. All of the mentors in the program have donated their time to help the next generation of hospitality managers succeed. It is helpful for me to know that this industry is composed of people caring for people."
For Pauly Vander Cica, '08, mentor David Frankhouser has had a direct impact on his career. Frankhouser, a longtime casino executive who has worked for Station Casinos since 2000, really took him under his wing. "At our first lunch meeting, David and I created an action plan, and I learned his global thoughts on management," says Vander Cica. The five principles that Frankhouser talked to his mentee about are as follows: 1) A leader leads by example. Do the work your employees do in order to earn their respect. 2) Be consistent with applying discipline. Never play favorites, or you will lose credibility. 3) Never engage in office politics and gossip. Ignore the noise and focus on your work. 4) Never burn bridges. This is a small town, and everyone knows each other. 5) Always work hard and create a reputation that will precede you everywhere you go.
He believes the most important thing he learned during his mentorship with Frankhouser was to not take this unbelievable opportunity for granted. "He told me right at the beginning that he was an "open book" and willing to let me create my own educational experience. Dave has a tremendous amount of responsibility, and the fact that he was willing to spend time helping me further my goals is simply incredible when you think about it," says Vander Cica. "I wanted to create a reputation (when I did the mentorship) that I had tremendous drive, a positive attitude, and that I possessed a strong work ethic," says Vander Cica. "I did this by making sure I shadowed 40 hours a week (without getting paid) and always e-mailed feedback to Dave. When I was officially hired into the company in February 2009, it was because of this reputation, and it carried over into my career, which allowed me to prove myself further and led to my current position of slot operations manager at Sunset Station. I know for a fact that if it wasn't for all the hard work I put into creating a great reputation, I would have never been given this chance." Nazarechuk says he has always been impressed by the industry support for this program and the variety of mentors. He laughingly recalls incidents of trying to recruit new mentors when people hesitated and he was able to prompt them by telling them their boss was one, and if he or she had time for the program, why didn't they? "I made every effort to match students with someone working in a department the student was interested in," says Nazarechuk. "One young woman had her heart set on becoming a wedding planner, but after spending one year with her wedding planner mentor, she came back and told me she learned it was definitely not the career for her!"
Many of these mentoring relationships continued for years and turned into working relationships and friendships. Nazarechuk is convinced that the program is worthwhile and plans to start a similar one in Singapore.
