A magical experience: Binghamton nursing student interns at Disney
Spaceship Earth is one of the most iconic landmarks of Walt Disney World and the main symbol of EPCOT. While some refer to it as a geodesic sphere and others as a giant golf ball, to Madelyn (Maddie) Clark it’s a wonderful — but temporary — place of employment.
Clark, a sophomore in the traditional nursing program at Binghamton University’s Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences, is in the middle of a six-month internship through the Disney College Program (DCP).
The DCP is a semester-long, paid-internship program open to college students from across the country and around the world. DCP interns live just outside Walt Disney World Resort in Florida or the Disneyland Resort in California while earning college credit at Disney parks and resorts through a combination of on-the-job experience, shadowing and seminars.
It’s a dream internship for 19-year-old Clark, who is from Binghamton and grew up loving Disney. Her family had Disney Vacation Club memberships at two Disney World resorts, so they went every year.
Clark learned of the DCP when she was just 10 years old, but it was a podcast by some DCP alumni that prompted her to apply for one of the coveted internships last year.
“I applied randomly sometime in August, never thinking I would get in, but here I am,” she said.
A member of the Binghamton University Dance Team, Clark was headed to work in the College-of-the-Woods (CIW) library on campus when she received an email accepting her into the program.
“I remember texting my mom saying, ‘I accidentally got into the Disney College Program,’” she said. “I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go, so I immediately started planning with my parents, my Decker advisor and my [dance] coach!”
The Most Magical Place on Earth
Most DCP interns, like Clark, work as cast members in the parks and resorts. At Spaceship Earth, a time-machine themed experience that explores the history of human communication from the Stone Age to the computer age, Clark works with a team that includes permanent cast members and about a dozen DCP interns.
“During a shift, we rotate between positions every 40 minutes or so,” she explained. “Some of the positions are greeter, lightning lane entry, load and unload, wheelchair and post-show. My favorites are greeter and unload. In both of these spots, we have a lot of guest interaction and get to show off a little more personality.”
Regardless of the role she’s assigned to, Clark said the job is simple: Make sure guests are safe and ensure every guest has the Disney experience.
The hours can be long — she’s had 13-hour shifts — and Clark is also taking online courses to fulfill her Binghamton nursing program requirements. But she said the CP (as she calls it) experience has been worth it and that’s not just because she can go to the park for free anytime she’s not working!
“The best part of my CP is that every day is a new day,” she said. “Working or not, life throws something new at me every day, so it’s never boring here!
“I genuinely look forward to going to work and talking with the other cast members,” she added. “There are many people I work with whom I can go to with any problems or fun news and they will always match my energy. I’m extremely lucky to have gotten such an excellent location with such great cast members!”
Before she arrived in Florida, Clark set some goals for herself and her DCP experience: Make lifelong friends from across the nation, gain confidence in her work, be thought of as a reliable cast member and don’t have any regrets.
“When I’m done with my program, I want to be able to say I did everything I wanted to do,” she said. “Recently, I’ve become very aware of how fast life can change, and I want to be able to say that I did my CP exactly how I wanted.”
It’s all about learning
Clark will complete the DCP internship in mid-July, just a few weeks before Binghamton’s fall semester has her back in classes and starting nursing clinical experiences. She’s confident that many of the skills she’s honing during the internship will translate to nursing.
“Having deep conversations and effective communication with guests is very similar to the conversations I will be having with my patients in the future,” she said. “The DCP has also helped me to have a better work-school-life balance, which will be extremely helpful as I finish school and go into the nursing field.”
Nursing has been her goal for many years, Clark said, because the profession enables one to solve problems while changing lives. She is also drawn to the variety of roles nurses can fulfill in clinical practice, administration, education, industry and more.
“I chose nursing specifically because of how many different opportunities there are in picking a career. I like the idea of being able to change into several types of nursing if one is not working for me,” she said. “The healthcare field relies on nurses, and I like that I can help be part of changes within nursing. I’m excited to begin my nursing classes in the fall and start the process!”