Interns from Missouri Southern are living and working at the “Happiest Place on Earth” thanks to an institutional partnership between Missouri Southern and the Disney College program.
Dr. Richard Miller, director of the James R. Spradling Center at MSSU, has spearheaded the initiative to provide students with an unforgettable internship experience.
“We’re now in our second cohort,” Miller says. “So far, a total of seven students have been accepted and have taken advantage of the program.”
Students from all majors are eligible. They must be in at least their second semester of classes and meet academic qualifications.
Once accepted into the Disney College Program, students work in the park and resort in Orlando, Fla., take part in college coursework and meet and live with people from all over the world.
Ally Fisher, a senior health promotion and wellness major from Lees Summit, recently took part in the program. She says the interns lived in on-site apartments on the Disney campus.
“They have lots of activities nearly every evening,” Fisher says. “We got free entry into all the Disney parks. If we weren’t working, we were out in the parks playing.”
Fisher says she met people from all over the world including Australia, China, Korea, Portugal, Brazil, and several other countries.
“It was the best time of my life,” she says. “It was a happy, positive, exciting atmosphere. It encouraged me to work hard and be a leader.”