Two years ago, when Kayla Riley was a junior at Norristown Area High School, she received an email from her guidance counselor about an opportunity to join a program called Upward Bound. A college preparatory program that is free for participants, Upward Bound provides fundamental support to high school students to help develop the skills, study habits, discipline, and attitude necessary to be successful in high school and college.

In a pursuit to be a business owner one day, Riley jumped on the opportunity to join the program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. She began taking classes at Montgomery County Community College’s TRIO Upward Bound Summer Academy leading up to her junior year.

“I would go every day for about six weeks online, and we would have four main classes and go over things,” Riley said. “It was like an extended summer school.”

As a student at Central Montco Technical High School with a concentration in cosmetology, Riley has been on course to open her own hair salon one day, so taking classes through MCCC was good preparation for her post-graduation plans.

“I was already planning to go to Montco for Business Administration to start up my own hair salon,” she said.

Career in the tourism industry

Not long after starting the Upward Bound program, Riley was inspired by guest speaker Shawn Murray, a Tourism & Hospitality Management Assistant Professor at MCCC, who spoke at a virtual event hosted by the college.

“I never knew you could have a career within the tourism and hospitality industry,” Riley said. “I like to travel, and I like helping people and you put those two together and you have hospitality.”

The Upward Bound Program offered students an opportunity to take a class for college credits at MCCC, including within the Tourism & Hospitality Program.

“Upward Bound was going to pay for kids to take Introduction to Hospitality Management,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’m going to act on that – that’s a good deal’.”

Introduction to Hospitality Management was one of three MCCC college-level courses Riley successfully completed through Upward Bound, enabling her to accrue nine college credits before graduating from high school.

“I took a course in Meetings, Conventions and Conference Management, and I took a Tourism, Hotel and Casino Management course,” she said.

Riley said she has enjoyed learning how casinos, cruise ships and hotels operate.

“I really enjoyed our lectures and class and everything – after the first class it was really bringing up some light bulbs.”

Pilot program

This past semester, the Upward Bound Program joined in a partnership with MCCC’s College of Tourism & Hospitality Management Program and Marriott Hotels Corporation, a Fortune 100 company.

“I am grateful and humbled that Marriott Hotels selected to partner with the College's Tourism & Hospitality program,” Murray said. “The last two years were extremely hard and challenging but provided opportunities for my team and I to push the envelope regarding innovation with this partnership, demonstrating our strong tourism-based academic programming.”

Riley was one of five students chosen to participate in this unique opportunity. This past month, Marriott expanded this partnership to include additional brands and locations in the Philadelphia market, providing endless career opportunities for current and future tourism students at MCCC.

“This is a life-changing career opportunity to connect with a top company at this stage in her professional development,” said Angela Scott Ferencin, Director of Upward Bound at MCCC. “I identified Kayla as one of the Upward Bound students who possessed the maturity, discipline, and potential to take on the many opportunities to which she has been exposed while a high school student.”

Through the pilot program, Riley is employed part-time by SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Plymouth Meeting, PA, where she works as a front desk agent three to four days a week.

“I could see myself with a career in Marriott,” she said, adding that she might be the general manager or even an owner of a Marriott Hotel one day.

But for now, she is content climbing the ranks with her eye on becoming a supervisor.

“I want to learn as much as possible about the daily operations,” she said.

A case study with Cornell University

In addition to participating in the Upward Bound/Marriott Hotel pilot program, Riley was chosen to partake in a case study through SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University and The Nolan School of Hotel Administration, also at Cornell University, which was also made possible through her involvement with Upward Bound.

“It was a real estate case study where they presented a case to me and two other Upward Bound students,” she said. “We were deciding which location would be best for this one company and presented it in front of a panel of judges after researching and creating a slide presentation to support our recommendation.”

Riley had to be very disciplined with the planning of her schedule this past year between her high school homework, college classes and working two jobs on top of the Cornell case study.

Her hard work will likely pay off, as Murray discussed how Riley’s combined experiences will work to her advantage after graduation.

“As Kayla exits high school and completes the MCCC Tourism and Hospitality Management program, her current experiences, such as working with Cornell University faculty and Marriott Hotel leaders, are positioning her well, along with demonstrating the strength of the college's Upward Bound program to prepare students like Kayla for college,” Murray said. “Later this summer at the NABHOOD (National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers) conference in Miami, Florida, Kayla will have the opportunity to continue these professional interactions.”

High levels of leadership

Murray discussed some of the positive attributes he has seen Riley exhibit during her time in the program.

“Through teaching and mentoring Kayla over the past two years, she has demonstrated high levels of leadership, critical thinking skills, and social and emotional intelligence, which are all key professional skill sets needed to be successful in the tourism and travel industries,” Murray said.

Riley sings Shawn Murray many praises for the impact he has had on her education and career aspirations that not only has her sights set on rising the ranks in hospitality, but also owning a full-service salon one day.

“He has been an amazing mentor,” Riley said. “He was very impactful with introducing hospitality to me and building a relationship with him exposes me to some things I didn’t know about,” she said. “He is pushing me to become better and do all I can do to get to my goals.”

The goal of Upward Bound is to increase the rate at which participants complete secondary education and enroll in and graduate from institutions of postsecondary education. If you're a rising high school freshman or a current high school student at Norristown Area High School or Pottstown Senior High School, you may be eligible to participate in Upward Bound. This free college preparatory program helps you develop the skills, study habits, discipline, and attitude necessary to be successful in high school and college.