Sinclair Community College students have the opportunity to be more competitive and marketable in today’s job market with the Disney College program, according to Terry Maiwurm, coordinator of the Disney College Program at Sinclair.
“The college program Disney offers is an opportunity for students to gain college credit and get paid for it. At the same time, they acquire work experience, and work ethic, and work with renowned Fortune 100 companies,” said Maiwurm.
The Disney College Program is a paid internship. The program’s popularity is growing because the internship alumni has become marketable, competitive, and sought after by the Dayton companies, according to Maiwurm.
“Sinclair has sent 472 students to the Disney College program. The Disney College Program has been very helpful for many Sinclair students by placing them on a path for success,” said Maiwurm.
Students interested in participating in the Disney Program should contact Maiwurm via email (terry.maiwurm@sinclair.edu) or in person in his office in Building 3, Room 143 with an updated resume.
The experience of the program
In the crowded Main Street at Disneyland on Christmas Day 2010, Sarah Lykins stood with broom and scooper in hand ready to start her duties for the day as a cast member of the custodial services in the Disney College Program. The end of her four month internship program was near.
Lykins, a 20-year-old Sinclair Community College student majoring in physical therapy, said this was her first fulltime job and it was something completely new for her.
Also, she said this was her first time away from home, and the first time she felt like a responsible adult. All these new experiences were part of her internship at Disneyland.
“The internship at Disneyland was the first experience I had where everything good or bad that happened depended on me. I felt what it was to be an adult: rent, groceries, budgeting, laundry and everything else, I needed to do it. Mom wasn’t there to do it for me,” said Lykins.
Time management, punctuality and professional appearance were instilled in all interns, according to Lykins.
“I didn’t even feel homesick. Among all those people, especially on holidays, there was always someone from Ohio. My Sinclair name tag gave me away and people always asked ‘how did you get to Disneyland? We did not know that Sinclair was that big,’” said Lykins.
Seeing the magineers in action
To enter Disney World is to enter a world of magic.
But for Matthew Morgin, a 21-year-old Sinclair mechanical engineering student, it’s a matter of engineering, mathematics and physics. He got to see first hand how that magic is crafted when he interned at Disney World from August 2008 to January 2009. He was able to follow the magineers and see the process these magic makers use to take a concept from the design phase to the performance phase.
“The third week of my internship at Disney World was an incredible thing. We went to the ‘rides and show.’ It was a big blue building with rows of cubicles where the magineers worked on computers applying engineering and physics concepts to different types of fireworks designs. The group of magineers showed me what it is to be an engineer and I saw myself doing what they were doing. It was very exciting,” said Morgin.
Morgin joined the program to see more of the world than he had previously.
“I decided to do the Disney College Program because it allowed me to see more of the world. I was raised in Xenia and I really haven’t experience much by myself. Here is this opportunity to get college credit, get paid and experience the real world,” said Morgin. “After seeing what other engineers do, I became very motivated to become one of them. What these magineers taught me about engineering and what it is to be an engineer is something I’ll always value.”