ACOM Kicks Off Scholarship Drive

The Assn. for Convention Operations Management announced the kickoff of its second annual scholarship program – the Donald S. Freeman Jr. ACOM Conference Scholarship, sponsored by service contractor Freeman.

The scholarship program is part of an effort to support college and university students in the field of hospitality management. The winner will receive funding to attend the ACOM Annual Conference Jan. 9-11 at the Westin New Orleans.

“Through this program, the recipient will take their learning outside the classroom in order to gain exposure to a variety of conference components, including meeting planner and venue interactions, room set-ups, audiovisual and staging, registration procedures and pre-convention meetings,” said Tim Stark, ACOM president. “Since ACOM is continually dedicated to education, we want to help future convention service leaders get hands-on experience at our conference.”

The winning student will get a behind-the-scenes look at conference operations, networking opportunities with meeting professionals and private mentoring from Freeman before, during and after the conference, as well as complimentary travel and admission to the conference.

Freeman Senior Sales Manager and ACOM board member Eric Blanc said, “Being able to award another student with scholarship funding and give them the opportunity to acquire real-world experience in this industry is a true testament to the partnership between ACOM and Freeman and their dedication to higher education.”

The winner will be selected Dec. 1 by a panel of ACOM members. The application deadline is Nov. 14, and more information is available at www.acomonline.org.

“Besides meeting wonderful people, including Mr. Freeman himself,” said Whitney Johnson, recipient of the 2008 scholarship, “the biggest thing I took away from the conference was reassurance. At the end of the conference, I was 100-percent positive that the meetings and events industry was the perfect career choice for me.”