Students
Dreams Do Come True
Marketing Senior Shares Insights from Disney Internship Experience
![Hava Schultz](/insidebauer/2019-spring/dreams-do-come-true/story-main-schultz.jpg)
Hava Schultz is a Bauer College marketing and sales undergraduate student. Last fall, she participated in the Disney College Program as a merchandise intern, living and working in Orlando, Florida, at the Walt Disney World Resort for a semester.
The Disney College Program is so much more than your everyday internship, and not just because of the company’s name. It truly is a program, so Disney breaks it down into three main elements: living, learning and earning.
Earning, of course, is the main part of the experience. It is time on the job. My role at Walt Disney World was in merchandise, where I was essentially performing duties as a retail sales employee at the gift shop in the All-Star Music Resort. And I loved it! Disney is superb at casting, meaning it chooses its staff well. Nearly 100 percent of my coworkers were positive, collaborative people! This was my first time working on a professional team with so many people my age as well. Over the course of four months in Orlando, I became friends with students from all over the country, and even the world.
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Another aspect of my job that was really cool was the diversity I experienced on the daily. I have grown up in this melting pot (Houston) and now attend the second-most-diverse university in the nation ... yet, the constant in-and-out of different cultures through my hotel and the parks at large was something even more special! Throughout my time there I met people from nearly all 50 states, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Panama, Mexico, Chile and so many more countries! I admire different cultures, which is one big reason why I love Epcot and a major motive for my traveling.
My experience at Disney transcended
far beyond the job.
Hava Schultz
Marketing & Sales Undergraduate
I also appreciated that most of my shifts were scheduled for nighttime — I felt like I had more time than ever before because I could be more productive with my time. During the day when I was naturally energized, I could do whatever it was that I wanted to accomplish, and then when I started to get tired (like I usually would after school or work) I fed off the positive energy of fellow cast members and happy guests to keep my Disney magic flowing!
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All that said, the job is just one component of the program, as I mentioned earlier. What about living and learning?
Traditionally, learning would have entailed an academic course run by Disney in Orlando alongside my internship. However, I chose another path of learning by opting for college credit here at Bauer by writing a 10-page marketing analysis based on my experience, as well as earning a certificate in career development after attending several workshops on-site.
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Of course, if I could earn and learn, I had a place to live! I stayed in Vista Way Apartments, the OG of DCP housing. It is therefore the oldest complex, and priced the lowest of the four options. I also lived with five other girls in a three-bedroom apartment, so that decreased the cost, too. To address a common question I receive about this set-up — no, Disney does not sponsor the housing, but the company pays everyone enough to cover rent.
Living also refers to the lifestyle that was available to me as a participant! With access to a very affordably priced company gym, I started working out regularly. I did some one-on-one training to develop a personalized workout regimen and tried out fitness classes. The exercise encouraged me to start meal prepping, get adequate sleep and meditate. I was on my A-game in the area of personal health!
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As if that wasn’t cool enough, I had access to a whole bunch of housing events ranging from exclusive character photo ops to festivals, parties and celebrations! Plus, I could always purchase merchandise for a discount and enter any park for free almost any day I wanted!
With this perk, I wandered the parks, went on rides, and saw shows! (I was even lucky enough to land a backstage tour of Animal Kingdom’s infamous DINOSAUR ride!) I also set a goal at the beginning of my program to fill a large autograph book with pictures and autographs over the course of my four months. I character bounded — a slang term for when someone dresses to match a character, as someone else from that movie, or with a subtle color coordination. I filled the book, and you can see here some pictures of my best character bounds!
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At Walt Disney World I was surrounded with a diverse group of like-minded, positive people. The company culture and values are qualities I want to find wherever I work in the future. However, my experience at Disney, like the program suggests, transcended far beyond the job, and so did my takeaways.
I felt very balanced ... for the first time in forever! (Did you catch that reference?) I was able to work a full-time job while still finding time to relax, enjoy my hobbies and improve my health. Going forward, (for the rest of college and beyond) I want to take that sense of balance with me —may my Disney College Program forever be a dividing line in time between my overcommitted burnout days and my healthy days of freedom and balance.
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