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Internships provide a platform for students to apply theoretical knowledge in a practical setting and to gain hands-on experience (Simons et al., 2012). Moreover, internships can help students build networks and connections within their chosen industry, which can later prove valuable in their career development. This qualitative exploratory study investigated students' perceptions of their hospitality and tourism internships on how they perceive their career pathways after completing an internship in a four-year degree program. For this study, a group of Junior and Senior hospitality and tourism university students from a major university were interviewed. The researcher utilized a phenomenological approach to analyze the data to best understand their lived experiences and perceptions. This was further contextualized under the theoretical framework of Transformational Leadership Theory (Northouse, 2019) to help elucidate the students' perceptions of their internships on their career pathways. From this analysis process, four themes emerged from their perceptions: 1) Servant Leadership, 2) mission and vison alignment, 3) mentors, and 4) connection of learning. This study addressed the gap in the current literature of transformational leadership and college students' perceptions of their career pathways after completing an internship by understanding how the 4i's of idealized influence and charisma, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration are positively or negatively perceived. A key finding of the study was that students' perceptions of their career pathways were positive in both transformational and transactional internships, and only differed in the 4i's constructs. However, students who completed a transformational internship could see themselves as leaders within the organization and could see a pathway for career advancement increasing retention within the organization.

The College Credit Plus (CCP) program, adopted and implemented by the state of Ohio in the2015-2016 school year, presents some unique opportunities for examining the impact ofaccelerated college credit on preparing students for success in college. This study attempts toexamine three of these unique features to examine the relationship that the CCP program mighthave on its participants’ success in college, measured by first year GPA upon matriculation at auniversity. Correlational analysis was first applied to examine any relationships that might existamong the dependent and independent variables. The number of credit hours a student completedthrough CCP demonstrated a positive significant relationship with first year GPA, while the typeof course work (General Education and Career Pathway) demonstrated a positive significantrelationship but no significance was found between the two types of courses according to aFisher’s Z-Test. The researcher wanted to examine the number of years spent taking CCPcourses to see if the amount of exposure of time to these types of courses demonstrated anyrelationship, but the data could not be determined to examine that relationship.

Emerging adulthood is a stage of life characterized by a high degree of fluctuation in identity formation and future decision-making (Arnett 2015). During this life stage, emerging adults make decisions about their future career by assessing whether they want to continue with their current career pathway or whether they intend to switch. The present study investigates this process in terms of its overall prevalence – or how often emerging adults intend to switch career trajectories – and the correlates of it. Previous studies on career switching have focused largely on educational switches. This quantitative study operationalizes career pathway by using the major occupational groupings by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and investigates the degree of career switching versus stability by assessing current majors and occupations compared to later career aspirations using data from Wave 4 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NSYR). The results indicate that most emerging adults in the sample who are in their mid-to-late twenties intend to switch careers. However, women are less likely to switch than men, but non-Whites are more likely to switch than Whites. Those currently enrolled in school are also more likely to intend a change in their careers. Implications for research on emerging adulthood, as well as for industry and policymakers, is discussed.