Meet Jennifer: At 20, She’s Launching Her Dream Career
by Cheryl RosenWhile others in her high school class dreamed of becoming a doctor or a teacher, all Jennifer Jarrett ever wanted was to be a travel agent.
Raised by parents who never got a chance to travel when they were young, Jennifer was more fortunate in that regard. Her childhood included scuba-diving in the Caribbean and family vacations in Mexico and Alaska – and her fondest memories all involve travel.
![]() |
So when she graduated from high school, she signed up for the 21-month Hospitality Management Administration program at Pittsburgh Technical Institute, with a concentration in travel and tourism, which leads to an associate in science degree.
Job in hand
On her graduation day earlier this summer, the beaming young woman, who was still shy of her 20th birthday, already had a job lined up at the first place she interviewed, Liberty Travel.
Now Jennifer is working in Liberty Travel’s Pleasant Hills, Penn., office in suburban Pittsburgh, at a starting salary of $30,000 plus 5% commission. If her sales in this first year top $7,000, her commission will get bumped up to 10% to 15%.
GDS skills a plus
Jennifer’s biggest surprise at school, she says, was how hard the computer courses were, though she admits she’s “not a computer person.” She caught on to Sabre the hard way, attending two two-hour classes a week and practicing, practicing, practicing.
“It took a lot of work,” she says, “but I learned a lot, and when I interviewed at Liberty Travel, they really liked the fact that I already knew the Sabre system.”
Jennifer’s favorite classes of all were the ones in business and accounting – skills she hopes to put to good use at Liberty Travel, and maybe one day in her own business.
“It would be pretty cool to have my own agency or work from home in my own business,” she said.
Continuing education
Even with her degree in hand, Jennifer is not quite finished with school yet.
In a special dual-degree program for Pittsburgh Technical Institute students with good grades, Jennifer is going for a second associates degree in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing.
She has four more classes to go, and expects to finish up that program in a couple of months, working around her schedule at Liberty Travel.
The dual major seemed to be a factor in her favor on her job interview, she said.
As for the future, she may go on and get a four-year degree. If she is not too busy seeing the world.
Ready to see the world
And where does she dream of traveling to? In her final semester, she did her required internship at Disney World in Orlando.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Africa, and I worked at Animal Kingdom while I was at Disney. Africa is the place I’d most like to visit.”
She might even take her parents on a family vacation there one day.
![](/media/xr5j3svl/like.png)
![](/media/0v4djtlm/dislike.png)