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Pebble Beach Scholars complete their first year
Pebble Beach Scholars complete their first year
By Mark Muckenfuss
The Pebble Beach Scholars program ended its first year on July 14, with a putting competition. Scholars, from left, are Alicia Ibarra, Kayla Vasquez, Ava Fox, Caroline Madill, Lloyd Ferguson, Brooklyn Laremore, Allyson McLaughlin and Rebecca Lutton. | Photo by Mark Muckenfuss
On a recent afternoon, a group of Cal State Monterey Bay students spent about an hour putting around, something they rarely get the opportunity to do.
Normally, this first cohort of the Pebble Beach Scholars Program is busy working with guests at the famed resort when they aren’t in the classroom or studying for exams. The friendly competition on The Hay practice green was a chance to celebrate the completion of their first year as interns.
Amid periodic cheers and groans, based on the success – or not – of their putts, some of the students talked about their experiences both as Sustainable Hospitality and Tourism Management majors and as resort workers – getting their feet wet in a field where they hope to find a career.
“I’m learning so much,” said Lloyd Ferguson, a senior from Carmel by the Sea. “Pebble Beach has been very welcoming and really good to us.”
Ferguson came to CSUMB’s hospitality management program after a number of career ventures, including a stint in real estate. He’d like to one day open his own wellness retreat. He hopes to enter Pebble Beach’s manager training program once he graduates next spring.
Working at Pebble Beach, where he has been a host at Stillwater Bar and Grill and The Tap Room, has given him important experience and a new insight into hospitality. The most important thing he’s learned, he said, is a way of approaching resort guests.
“It’s finding little ways to make their day better,” he said. “Even if they’re in a great mood, what can we do to make it even better?”
It’s these kinds of lessons that encourage Paige Viren, executive director of CSUMB’s program. She had high hopes for the program when it launched last year, and they haven’t diminished.
"It’s turning out better than what I envisioned in terms of how we've worked together with Pebble Beach,” she said. “They’ve been very flexible. It’s definitely a team dynamic that I really like. A few of the managers have said what a great experience they’ve had working with the students.”
Caroline MacDonald, executive vice president and chief operations officer for Pebble Beach Company, said she is also pleased with the progress of the program.
“The professionalism of the students and their commitment have been outstanding,” MacDonald said. “They are eager to dig in and do the work and, as a result, the program has exceeded our expectations.”
It’s been such a success, she added, that she thinks it can serve as an example of what a scholars program can be.
“We could be a platform that others go on to replicate across other industries,” she said.
Some of the scholars seem almost giddy when they talk about their experiences.
“I still am just as excited as the first day I joined,” said senior Ava Fox. “It’s just been amazing to be a part of this.”
Fox grew up in the hospitality industry, working in food and beverage service at Alpine Lake near her Sonora home. But being placed at the concierge desk at Pebble Beach was a new experience for her. It’s a good start on her goal to one day be a general manager, she said. She not only enjoys working with the resort guests, but she also is inspired by the outlook of her fellow workers.
“The seasoned employees who have been there 30 years still have that same flame in their eyes,” she said.
Rebecca Lutton, a senior from Waterford, said she feels a part of Pebble Beach.
“This is an amazing opportunity for me to be immersed in the community,” Lutton said.
She spent her year working as a hostess at the premier restaurant Pèppoli. An employee field trip took her to the restaurant’s primary supplier of wine, Antinori Napa Valley, where the restaurant team spent the day tasting and selecting wines. It’s an example, she said, of the kind of experience she wouldn’t otherwise get.
“It’s made a huge impact,” she said of the program. “It’s put me on the path I was hoping to make for myself. Otherwise, I’d just be another student studying and trying to get a job after college.”
MacDonald said Lutton and the other scholars are setting an example. Addressing the group, and awarding a few prizes, after the friendly putting competition, she told them they are paving the way for others.
“You are the first cohort,” she said, “in what we believe is going to go on for many, many years.”
Student Awards & Scholarships
Student Awards & Scholarships
Desiree Jackson (MBA) - ARI-NextGen Fellowship Award | Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) | CSU NextGen Program
Felicia Zamora (MBA) - ARI-NextGen Fellowship Award | Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) | CSU NextGen Program
Philip Tuffs (BSA) - CalCPA Outstanding Senior | CalCPA
Alicia Ibarra (BSSHTM) - California Hotel & Lodging Association Hospitality Foundation 2025 Scholarship | California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) Hospitality Foundation
Ava Fox (BSSHTM) - California Hotel & Lodging Association Hospitality Foundation 2025 Scholarship | California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) Hospitality Foundation
Rebecca Lutton (BSSHTM) - California Hotel & Lodging Association Hospitality Foundation 2025 Scholarship | California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) Hospitality Foundation
Lloyd Ferguson (BSSHTM) - California Hotel & Lodging Association Hospitality Foundation 2025 Scholarship | California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) Hospitality Foundation
Allyson McLaughlin (BSSHTM) - California Hotel & Lodging Association Hospitality Foundation 2025 Scholarship | California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) Hospitality Foundation
Caroline Madill (BSSHTM) - California Hotel & Lodging Association Hospitality Foundation 2025 Scholarship | California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) Hospitality Foundation
Christopher Mara (BSSHTM) - California Hotel & Lodging Association Hospitality Foundation 2025 Scholarship | California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) Hospitality Foundation
Jasmine Flores (BSSHTM) - California Hotel & Lodging Association Hospitality Foundation 2025 Scholarship | California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) Hospitality Foundation
Madison Strunk (BSSHTM) - California Hotel & Lodging Association Hospitality Foundation 2025 Scholarship | California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) Hospitality Foundation
Benjamin Meltzer (BSSHTM) - California Hotel & Lodging Association Hospitality Foundation 2025 Scholarship | California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) Hospitality Foundation
Prachi Sharma (BSSHTM) - California Hotel & Lodging Association Hospitality Foundation 2025 Scholarship | California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) Hospitality Foundation
Julissa Tayama-Serrano (BSSHTM) - California Hotel & Lodging Association Hospitality Foundation 2025 Scholarship | California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) Hospitality Foundation
Rebeca Lutton (BSSHTM) - California Restaurant Association Guy Fieri Foundation Scholarship | California Restaurant Association Guy Fieri Foundation
Rebecca Lutton (BSSHTM) - CalTravel Summit Scholarship | California Travel Association Summit
Joseph Prado (BSSHTM) - CalTravel Summit Scholarship | California Travel Association Summit
Philip Gianino (BSBA) - Dean's Medalist | College of Business
Jack Deaner (BSBA) - Graduating Student Recognition | College of Business
Hugo Gutierrez (BSBA) - Leadership and Impact Distinguished Graduate Recognition | College of Business
Jasmine Serratos-Esparza (BSBA) - Graduating Student Recognition | College of Business
Rebecca Lutton (BSSHTM) - Guy Fieri Foundation 2025 Scholar for Culinary Excellence and Community Impact |Guy Fieri Foundation
Belinda Guevara-Ray (BSA) - Hilda Holl Scholarship | Carmel Rotary
Allyson McLaughlin (BSSHTM) - NEWH San Francisco Bay Area Chapter 2025 Scholarship | Network of Executive Women in Hospitality (NEWH) San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Rebecca Lutton (BSSHTM) - NEWH San Francisco Bay Area Chapter 2025 Scholarship | Network of Executive Women in Hospitality (NEWH) San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Caroline Madill (BSSHTM) - NEWH San Francisco Bay Area Chapter 2025 Scholarship | Network of Executive Women in Hospitality (NEWH) San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Ava Fox (BSSHTM) - NEWH San Francisco Bay Area Chapter 2025 Scholarship | Network of Executive Women in Hospitality (NEWH) San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Joseph Prado (BSSHTM) - NEWH San Francisco Bay Area Chapter 2025 Scholarship | Network of Executive Women in Hospitality (NEWH) San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Warren Blut (BSSHTM) - NEWH San Francisco Bay Area Chapter 2025 Scholarship | Network of Executive Women in Hospitality (NEWH) San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Leslie Lemus (BSSHTM) - NEWH San Francisco Bay Area Chapter 2025 Scholarship | Network of Executive Women in Hospitality (NEWH) San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Daniel Vargas (BSASCM) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | Cal State Monterey Bay
America Cardoso (BSBA) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Andrew Nino (BSBA) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Cynthia Arvizu Vazquez (BSBA) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Daniela Walton-Mancilla (BSBA) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Glendy Torres (BSBA) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Kimberly Zavala (BSBA) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Lissette Ortiz (BSBA) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Nicki Dulmage-Bekker (BSBA) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Yonatan Gonzalez (BSBA) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Bryan Gutierrez (BSSHTM) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Leo Watkins-Brown (BSSHTM) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Rebecca Lutton (BSSHTM) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Lloyd Ferguson (BSSHTM) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Ava Fox (BSSHTM) - Outstanding Future Alumni Award | CSUMB Alumni Association
Ben Meltzer (BSSHTM) - Outstanding Student | College of Business
Alan Steingasser (BSBA) - Outstanding Student | College of Business
Philip Tuffs (BSA) - Outstanding Student | College of Business
Julia Ulm (MBA) - Outstanding Student | College of Business
Mitchell Provencher (BSBA) - Panetta Congressional Internship, Washington, D.C. | Panetta Institute
Lloyd Ferguson (BSSHTM) - Pebble Beach Scholar | College of Business
Ava Fox (BSSHTM) - Pebble Beach Scholar | College of Business
Alicia Ibarra (BSSHTM) - Pebble Beach Scholar | College of Business
Brooklyn Laremore (BSSHTM) - Pebble Beach Scholar | College of Business
Rebecca Lutton (BSSHTM) - Pebble Beach Scholar | College of Business
Caroline Madill (BSSHTM) - Pebble Beach Scholar | College of Business
Allyson McLaughlin (BSSHTM) - Pebble Beach Scholar | College of Business
Kayla Vasquez (BSSHTM) - Pebble Beach Scholar | College of Business
Julissa Tayama-Serrano (BSSHTM) - Service Learning Award | CSUMB
Elian Villagran (BSSHTM) - Service Learning Award | CSUMB
Cynthia Arvizu Vazquez (BSBA) - Social Impact Competition Runner-up | Institute for Innovation and Economic Development
Erica Graham (BSBA) - Social Impact Competition Runner-up | Institute for Innovation and Economic Development
Rachel Malamed (MBA) - Social Impact Competition Winner | Institute for Innovation and Economic Development
Daniel Vargas (BSASCM) - Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders (SIEML) | University of California
Joseph Prado (BSSHTM) - Woodside Hospitality Group Anthony Narigi Scholarship | Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa
Learn More
Learn More
Vist the College of Business Scholarship webpage for more information about available scholarships.
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