It is no exaggeration to say that Great Bay Community College changed Matthew Joyal’s life. At Great Bay, he built his educational foundation, found his career path, and met the love of his life. Joyal will marry his fiance, Amanda Doyle, at the end of July, continuing the life they began building together when both were students in the hospitality program at Great Bay.
That was in 2016.
“We met in Intro to Hospitality Management, on the first day. We went around the room and did intros, and she said she worked in the Disney college program once before, and that fascinated me. I wanted to learn more about her,” Joyal said.
They became friends and eventually began dating. He proposed to her at Disney in 2018, when both worked at the resort on Great Bay internships.
Joyal, 30, graduated with an associate degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Event Management in 2018, and has since earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management, and a Master’s in Project Management, both from Granite State College. For his capstone project, he got credit for planning his own wedding.
The newlyweds will move to Florida after their wedding.
Joyal credits Dawn Comito, Hospitality Management & Massage Therapy Department Chair, for helping him find his way – in school and in life. “Dawn is an amazing professor,” he said. “I was not a very good student, but Dawn actually made me appreciate school. She had so much passion for what she was doing, I learned so much from her.”
Specifically, he learned that he loved helping other people. While studying at Great Bay, he began working at Wentworth By the Sea, eventually becoming Housekeeping Supervisor. Also through Great Bay, he landed two Disney internships, first in housekeeping at Walt Disney World and then as guest services associate at Disney Sports/ESPN Wide World of Sports.
He has since taken a management job at Turbocam International, using the skills he learned supervising and helping others to ascend to the rank of Receiving Lead. “Even if I am not working in hospitality at the moment, the type of affirmative leadership that I learned from the hospitality industry prepared me for what I am doing now,” he said.
“I learned to care more about my team in front of me and learned to put the team first and not me, me, me. That is why I get along with people, and that is what hospitality is all about.”
In Florida, Joyal hopes to return to Disney. He has applied for a few jobs and is waiting to hear about interviews, but Joyal will begin his job search in earnest when and Amanda arrive in August as newlyweds.
Until then, he has a wedding to finish planning.
