{"id":7347,"date":"2019-06-14T11:26:27","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T15:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=7347"},"modified":"2023-02-15T10:47:41","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T15:47:41","slug":"disney-college-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2019\/06\/14\/disney-college-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney College Program Helps Prepare Students for Future Roles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Courtney O\u2019Neal<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A bus greeter at Disney World wouldn\u2019t\nseem like the optimum preparation for a future school psychologist, but\nsurprisingly it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nDisney experience helps a lot,\u201d said Courtney O\u2019Neal,\na junior psychology major\nwith plans to get a master\u2019s degree in school\npsychology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was kind of\nnervous at first because I didn\u2019t think\nthis was really going to help me in the education field, because I\u2019m not planning on working for Disney in\nthe long run. But it really is helping me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Neal is part\nof the Disney College Program, a prestigious program seeing thousands of\nstudent applications. The program is an opportunity for students to participate\nin a paid internship and in some cases, depending on their major, receive college\ncredit. O\u2019Neal is receiving credit towards her Georgia Southern degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI work with\nguest interactions and guest relations every day.\nYou see a lot of different cultures from around the world. You learn how to interact with them differently, how to manage upset guests\nand how to handle different situations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Neal added she could see herself\nchanging the longer she has worked at Disney. Changes that will definitely help\nher as a school psychologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I first got here I didn\u2019t really know how to handle upset guests or a person screaming at you. Now I know how to evaluate a situation and calm it down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking a full load of courses online, O\u2019Neal has learned to manage her time between her bus greeter job, her online classes and her free time. Cast members, as she and her teammates are called, also get free entry into the park in their down-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard but it\u2019s doable. You learn how to be independent, but you still have a back bone, where if you mess up, you still have people there that you can fall back on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Neal has enjoyed interning at Disney. And\nDisney likes her too, extending her stay from a single semester to a full year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love every second of it. You really can\u2019t experience anything like it anywhere else but at a place like Disney World. If you have a chance to do it. Definitely do it, because you will not get this kind of experience again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Aaron Clay (\u201911)<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Disney College Program has helped numerous students turn their internships into full-time jobs,\nincluding two in Imagineering. Walt Disney\nImagineering is the part of Disney\nthat imagines, designs and builds\nDisney attractions and properties\naround the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aaron Clay is one of those\nImagineers. A mechanical engineering graduate, Clay began his career at Disney\nas an intern in the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He eventually landed a professional engineering internship with Engineering Services at Disney\u2019s Hollywood Studios. He later transferred to the Quality Engineering Department, where he worked full time as an associate quality engineer on projects such as the Frozen and Pandora attractions at the park. When the Pandora project was completed, Clay was recognized by Disney Imagineering for his use of 3D modeling software, and was asked if he was interested in working as a product manager for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince Imagineering was always a dream of mine, I happily accepted,\u201d he said. \u201cI manage the 3D models for all of Walt Disney Imagineering projects in the domestic portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The View from Georgia Southern<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s excellent,\u201d said Caitlyn Cofer, assistant director of experiential learning in Georgia Southern\u2019s Office of Career\u00a0 and Professional Development, describing her view of the Disney College Program. \u201cThe biggest thing that the program gives our students is, of course, job experience. But more specifically, customer service experience, regardless of what role they\u2019re put in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two recruiters from Disney work with Cofer on the program. The Disney recruiters have an established relationship with the Office, sending professional internships directly to Georgia Southern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDisney reaches out to me regularly when they have a\nneed,\u201d said Cofer. \u201cFor example, they might say they\u2019re looking for an\nentomology student for some insect research. They know we have a good biology\nprogram, so they ask me to refer those students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This semester, at least eight students enrolled in the Disney College Program, the most in University history. There have been more than 30 enrolled in the program since 2016. The University has partnered with Disney on the program since\u00a0 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 LIZ WALKER<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


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Courtney O\u2019Neal A bus greeter at Disney World wouldn\u2019t seem like the optimum preparation for a future school psychologist, but surprisingly it is. \u201cThe Disney experience helps a lot,\u201d said Courtney O\u2019Neal, a junior psychology major with plans to get a master\u2019s degree in school psychology. \u201cI was kind of nervous at first because I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":7349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-7347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-spring-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}