WDW College Program

Graduation Day! I remember graduation day being in the same week as when my final projects were due for my classes so this was a nice reprieve from all the stress. I wish I had taken pictures with the other characters but I was too distracted by the food which turned out better than the pizza they normally serve at housing events. I also won a poster from the DJ stand by answering Disney trivia!

Graduation Day!

I felt so anxious getting my graduation hat and diploma. It was finally starting to feel real to me that my program was up. I was not ready! There were so many things I wanted to do before graduating but with a week left, how could I do them all? I tried not to panic though and resolved to just spend my remaining time working and being with friends.

That Thursday was Starlit Splash! I had actually never been to Typhoon Lagoon before then and I had an amazing time. I’m very grateful to the Typhoon Lagoon CPs who had to work that night. I found it unfair that they had to miss it and I really think there should be more done about CPs who have to work during the end-of-session event and during the two graduation days. It was a really fun experience. I never realized how many CPs there were until that day. Looking around the packed water park made me think about how many people I didn’t get a chance to talk to or befriend. Missed opportunities! However, there will always be other chances to meet new people even if it’s not through this program.

Thinking back, one of the greatest experiences I had during the program was taking the classes Creativity and Innovation and Organizational Leadership. I learned a lot about myself as a team member, a leader, and as a learner overall. I also worked with a diverse group of people. There were classmates who went along with everything, classmates who did not do any work at all, and teammates who tried to take control for every project.

For my Creativity and Innovation class, my team members changed throughout the semester. Many students dropped the class and so my team dwindled down to only three by the end. For our final project, we had to present a new store concept to the class. While my team had three members left, there were some “teams” that only had one! I’ve learned that you always have to be prepared to take on big responsibilities alone, even if someone is supposed to help you along the way.

To conclude the class, our teacher Ellen had us commit to doing something creative after the class ended. I’ve made a commitment to continue writing in my creative journal 4-5 times every week. Making that commitment pushes me to go out and actually do something every week and through that journal, I’ve actually learned a lot about myself. I want to continue to know myself better.

My Organizational Leadership class was also very insightful and I’m so happy I had the teammates I had. These were the most harmonious group of girls I’ve ever worked with. If we ever disagreed on something, we were quick to come to a consensus. We worked very well together and when we parted ways, we all agreed that this was the best team we’ve ever had. We were also the only team that maintained the same number of team members from the beginning of the semester!

Organizational Leadership Team

All in all, I loved my Disney classes. If I had extended or if I ever participate in another Disney College Program, I would definitely sign up for another class. I’ve also made wonderful friends in class and learned so much from my classmates!

I ended getting moved up to commons. In checking day, when they told me I was going to move into the commons, I was upset because I thought I was going pay more for rent. Commons is the complex that has free laundry because it’s in the house. I have co workers that pay rent up to $120 which I was really worried about. I was paying $98 in vista and I was fine. I just didn’t want my check to lose less because of my rent. So it’s five girls now instead of six. They seem really nice and cool to hang out with. Everything it’s good so far and when they told me rent its 91$ I was even happier and relieved. I ended up in the 3 person room, but at least I’m not in the top bunk bed, I took the bottom.

Now that I finished class, I have been getting scheduled a lot of hours, and the more hours the better. It’s a good feeling knowing that I real days off, I get to go out, I love how now I’m getting auto plaza shifts, and closing shifts are 7:30 which is great. Now I get to actually go out with my friends. I went to blizzard beach with my co-worker and it was really fun. We went to all the rides and stayed in the pool for like 30 minutes. We went as soon as they opened the park so we get to do everything early and fast.

Just seeing my roommates leaving today, has hit me. If I hadn’t extended I would be leaving today. I miss home so much now. But I know if I hadn’t extended, I would of regret it. There’s is So much I still want to do that I haven’t done. Eat at the most popular restaurants like be our guest and Ohana. And get to know Disney more like go to the water parks and the mini gulfs areas. My roommates and I went out to eat at trails end restaurant in fort wilderness campsites to eat breakfast and it was so good , the waiters were so nice highly recommend it. Its 40% all year for cast members, lunch and breakfast. After that I took them to do last minute shopping in cast connections and in target. It was nice spending time with them on their last days. When we said bye to each other we cried. I am truly going to miss them. I hope my new roommates are as cool as these were. I have to move out by Sunday and have to check in like last time. It’s like starting all over again which I don’t like.

So I finally finished my two Disney classes. I’m so glad I finished, I was really stressed with the group projects. So as I predicted, I ended up doing all the work for everybody. Nobody had time to do the work, so I ended up doing all the work. I couldn’t give up because I knew I was going to get credited for these classes and I wanted to prove people wrong, which I did. I ended having an 82 for experiential class and an 86 for human resource management. I did my best with working all these crazy hours. And I have perfect attendance for both classes which I’m really proud off. I found out that being a way from everybody back home, I was able to focus more and do better on the classes. Now I know that back home I get distracted. When I get back home, I know what to do to not lose focus of my school work.