Brooklyn Ivory On Living The Island Dream

Living the island life stands as a bucket list dream for many, but Brooklyn Ivory has been living this dream, day in, day out for just over a year.

Brooklyn lives, works, and studies on Hayman Island in the Whitsundays as part of The Hotel School where she is enrolled in an Associate Degree of International Hotel and Tourism Management. The Hotel School allows its students to study on the island campus and combines their academia with hands-on experience to foster a unique work, study and living environment.

“We live in The Village on Hayman Island, and with the resort just a road away and being right near the marina, our view is just amazing, its beach and water every morning,” explained Brooklyn.

After graduating from Ayr State High School in 2021, she chose to take a gap year before commencing her tertiary studies on Hayman Island. Brooklyn has always had a love for the hospitality industry, and after learning of the opportunity in Year 10, she believed the 2-year course would provide many opportunities and career pathways across the world.

“I heard about the program at one of the careers nights in Year 10, and from there I did a lot of research into the Sydney and Melbourne schools, as they had just opened The Hotel School on Hayman Island,” explained Brooklyn.

“I applied and explained I wanted to take a gap year in 2021 and The Hotel School was very understanding and they’re a very flexible university, always looking after their students mental, physical and academic health all at the same time.”

Brooklyn carries out her degree on a fast-tracked university schedule, studying for a 6-week period, with a 2-week break, on a continuous cycle for 4 terms before the summer term commences where she will carry out a resort placement.

“There are definitely ups and downs living the island life, but as a whole it’s been an amazing experience,” expressed Brooklyn.

“For me, taking a year off and then going back to a small town that’s even smaller, I had doubts about if I would meet anybody, and as there are only 250 staff members here at the moment, and 350 at maximum, you get to know everybody very quickly because you live with them, work with them, and do extra-curricular activities with them all the time.”

Once Brooklyn began her island lifestyle, she found the whole process of meeting people and making life-long friends a breeze. Many students from around Australia and the world began their studies along with Brooklyn in March of 2022, and with a quick turn over of island residents, Brooklyn finds herself meeting new people often.

“We’re always meeting new people, and that’s become the joy of it because there are lots of people of different cultures, and I love learning about their backgrounds, and hearing their travel stories,” explained Brooklyn.

With 10 months to go before graduating with her Diploma of Hotel and Tourism Management, Brooklyn has left her horizon open to exploring many opportunities, and believes she’ll find herself traveling internationally in the coming years.

“Anyone interested in the opportunity should enroll, whether you’re looking at doing it to study, or looking at just coming to Hayman to work, 100% do it,” she urged.

“The most important thing you’ll take away is just the experience of living here which is something most people will never experience, and you’ll truly never regret it.”

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Brooklyn Ivory, originally from Ayr, loves living the island life. Photos supplied

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