"When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do. And one thing it takes to accomplish something is courage." -Walt Disney

Well we've hit the mark! It is exactly ONE MONTH until I fly down to Florida and begin my College Program with Disney! Needless to say, I'm SO EXCITED!
There have been all sorts of onboarding things that I've been doing. Forms and booklets to read and acknowledgements to sign, but by far the most interesting has been Mission: Timekeeper. What is it?
Well Mission:Timekeeper is a game which is accessible after you've accepted your offer to join the College Program. It's a way to not only test how much you already know about the Disney Company, but also learn about new things that maybe you didn't. I've played the game through. There is a "Space" mission, and then a "Time" mission. There are worlds that all have different topics such as Walt's Life, The Disney Cruise Line, the parks, of course the characters, and even basic info about the company (i.e. which networks Disney owns and when the company was founded, and even what it's original name was, Hint: It wasn't "Walt Disney Studios") You hop from world to world, learning about each topic through the moons surrounding the world, before you attempt to override the world's force-field and bring it under your control. Right answers earn energy, wrong answers cost it. Pretty simple.
After you've gained control of all the worlds, you're able to complete the "Time" mission. In this section, you take the key clues that you've gained by opening all the force-fields and apply them to different parts of the timeline, restoring the past. You can play the missions multiple times and of course compete for points against your fellow College Program acceptees. It's really interesting because you quickly realize that there is much more to Disney than just the characters. For example, did you know that Disney also owns ESPN? Or that conservation was so important to Walt that he began making nature videos, before it was cool? Don't believe me, look up the "True-Life Adventures" series.
It's really very exciting. As school is winding down (only one more week of classes before finals) I begin to wind up and more and more emails come from the College Program. By now my friends are probably annoyed with me and my parents are at least amused (they don't hear me go on and on about it everyday). Part of me wonders if it will live up to everything I hope for and another part of me thinks it can't possibly. But my friend who has completed the program assures me that it is a wonderful experience. Either way, it's something that I've wanted to do for a very long time and I feel very blessed to be able to do it.
-Katie