Final Blog Entry

Headlines are one of, if not, the most important parts of a story. A headline can either make or break whether a reader will read the story or not. I feel that a clever or witty headline is more effective than one that sacrifices cleverness or "personality." I think the clever headline or the headline with "personality" is what draws the reader in. For example, if a speaker were to come into a classroom and start off with a joke, he is most likely able to gain the students' attention by telling that joke rather than simply just stating his purpose in the classroom.

I think it is possible to combine both the cleverness and the facts into one phrase that will hook the audience. One rule to go by is to try to fit a pun or play on words in the headline, but to also state a who, what, when, where, why, or how component in there as well. That way the audience can have some kind of sense of what the story is about while being drawn into it with the cleverness of the headline.

Profanity Debate

I think profanity is profanity no matter how many letters are hidden in the word. Although some journalists may feel that by keeping the quote how it is may add accuracy to the story, it is also inappropriate to a younger audience. This day and age, children of all ages are brought up to rely on technology and are exposed to everything on the Internet, television, and in newspapers. I think the same standards should be held for the Internet and newspapers. I think that by just stating that profanity was used in the story would prove that the people were passionate about the events that took place. There shouldn't be different treatment for Internet stories and newspaper stories. Younger audiences are capable of being exposed to both and it is unacceptable to print profanity when there is a chance that they may see it.

Punctuation Exercise

Edit the following sentences. Pay particular attention to the correct use of apostrophes, colons and commas.

Down syndrome has been linked to a defect on a tiny slice of one of the human chromosomes, an important step toward prevention and treatment of the disorder researchers said Saturday.

“By mapping a gene, you can find it, isolate it, and develop new means of therapy,” said Dr. Frank Ruddle of Yale University one of the organizer’s of the conference.

At the Ninth International Gene Mapping Workshop two years ago in Paris, scientists had mapped about 1000 human genes.

The announcement of 400 new genes Saturday, brings the total to nearly 2000, an increase of more than one-fourth over what it was two weeks ago.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has proclaimed the law a clear success, but the current administration has yet to put its own stamp on immigration policy.

“The legislation bought time for everyone and made the problems more manageable for a while,” said Leonel J. Castillo, former I.N.S. commissioner.

The law offered legal status to immigrants who had lived in the United States continuously since before Jan. 1, 1982 and imposed penalties on employers who knowingly hired illegally.

He said he had but one thing on his mind: sleeping.

Gardeners who wear broad brimmed hats, coveralls, and heavy duty gloves while using an electric hedge clipper to trim bushes, are displaying common sense—but not enough of it says the American Optometric Association.

The garb protects the face from the sun , and clothing and hands from the wear and tear of yard work, but the eyes are left exposed and vulnerable to flying twigs leaves and other debris.

- Courtesy, “Creative Editing.”

Journalistic experiences and career aspirations

My name is Sharon Carpenter and I am 22 years old. I grew up in River Vale, NJ (North Jersey) and I still reside there. I live there with both parents and a younger brother. I graduated from Pascack Valley High School in 2004 and continued my education here at Rowan University. Snowboarding, the NY Yankees, I Love Lucy, and people are my passions in life.
My journalism interest started when I realized that I had a passion for writing. I love to write, but tell stories that are true. That led me to the path of journalism.
I started out as a public relations major, but I didn't enjoy sugar coating everything. I enjoyed reporting and interpreting the truth to the public. I decided that journalism may be the path that would allow me to pursue an interest like this one.
At first I wanted to be a sports journalist. My ideal goal was to work for ESPN and write either on their online journals or their magazine. As I began to take more and more journalism classes I found that I didn't want to be limited to strictly sports.
Unfortunately, as I took more and more classes in journalism and gained more writing experience, I found out that journalism was not something I wanted pursue in the future. My career aspirations changed to something more along the lines of human resources. I found out, through conducting so many interviews in journalism, that I realized that I wanted to be on the other side of the interviewing.
I have had the opportunity to write for The Whit. This has been a great experience to write for a college crowd. I have also experienced a taste of broadcast journalism at Studio News, which is an internal news company run by the Walt Disney World company. I got to experience what broadcast journalism is comprised of and shadow the staff that worked for them. I enjoyed the broadcast side of journalism more than the print side, but it was confirmed that journalism would not be my career.
Journalism has taught me a lot about writing. I learned the right way to write clearly, but not too verbose. My grammar has improved even in my speech. I do not regret majoring in journalism because it has taught me exactly what I want to do later on in my life.
Although my career aspirations changed, I learned a lot from my journalistic experiences and it was those experiences that formed my opinions today.

Published Articles

Hopping out the Door

By Sharon Carpenter

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

AUDOBON- When visiting a chain restaurant, people can usually count on consistently. This particular IHOP in Audobon was a little different than most others I have visited.

The International House of Pancakes is a family-orientated comfortable chain restaurant. They are renown for mostly their pancakes and breakfast items, but they serve a wide variety of lunch and dinner items too. The items at IHOP are moderately priced, but the food is high quality.

I should have known how the meal was going to progress when I first entered the doors. Although there wasn’t any wait time on this particular Saturday afternoon, the cleanliness of the restaurant was at first glance a little on the messy side. The atmosphere of the restaurant was nonchalant and a comfortable setting, but maybe a little too comfortable. As my dining partner and I sat down, we were surrounded by families of all sizes. There were a couple people actually dining alone for this particular meal.

As we were seated at our table, I couldn’t help but get a bad feeling as my elbows stuck to the leftover syrup on the table from the previous people’s meal. The table was not cleaned and my dining partner was missing silverware.

The waitress took a while (about 15 minutes) to greet us and take our order. She did not know much about the contents of the menu and she had a negative attitude about wanting to wait on us.

We declined on any kind of appetizers as the meal portions were large enough for us. I ordered a Cinnamon Swirl French Toast platter, which included two eggs any style, sausage or bacon, and hash browns. (PRICE.) My dining partner ordered a Big Basic which included three eggs any style with either ham, bacon or sausage, and three buttermilk pancakes. My dining partner asked for a little zest with her meal and ordered chocolate chip pancakes instead of regular buttermilk pancakes.

Our food seemed to take forever, but I’m sure it was because we were starving. When the food finally arrived, my dining partner was immediately disappointed when they brought her chocolate pancakes instead of chocolate chip pancakes. When she asked for her order to be corrected, the waitress seemed confused to what chocolate chip pancakes were. Weren’t we at a pancake house?

As I dug into my plate with much excitement, I was immediately disappointed. My scrambled eggs were cold and my hash browns were mostly burned. The three sausage links I received were delicious though. The best part of my meal was the cinnamon swirl French toast. The cinnamon bun was drenched in a sugar frosting and cinnamon and brown sugar were sprinkled throughout the bun. The French toast was delectable and I couldn’t complain about the sausage.

The Big Basic’s scrambled eggs and bacon were cold as well. Once my dining partner was done eating she finally received her pancakes which were cooked correctly this time. The warm buttermilk pancakes had chocolate chips sprinkled throughout. They were delicious and well worth the wait. Speaking of wait, we hadn’t seen the waitress in about 20 minutes or so.

Overall, the service and atmosphere of the restaurant were terrible. The waitress was not knowledgeable of the menu, she wasn’t anywhere to be found, and her customer service skills were absolutely despicable. The food was decent; however the Cinnamon Swirl French Toast and chocolate chip pancakes were delicious and gave us some hope for the restaurant. It was not enough hope to make me ever want to go back to this particular IHOP again.

ABOUT THE RESTAURANT

DETAILS

Chain: International House of Pancakes, 110 Blackhorse Pike Audubon, NJ 08106-1950, (856) 310-1050. Other nearby locations at 285 Route 73 North W. Berlin, NJ 08091-2500, (856) 753-8404; 3 Snyder Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19148-2722; (215) 339-5095.

Atmosphere: Family-oriented. The setting is comfortable; however it is unclean.

Price: Moderately priced. A meal for two people including drinks and all sides comes out to be $21.24.

Portions: Portion size can be adjusted by the discretion of the eater. Since IHOP offers a lot of combination platters, each person that visits the restaurant will have a different amount of food to choose from.

Leftovers:

Leftovers would be small, and most people do not take home breakfast food.

Smoking:

No smoking

Overall: This particular IHOP did not fulfill the expectations of the chain. The food, atmosphere, and cleanliness of the restaurant was below average and very disappointing for people who are expecting a certain quality and experience at IHOP they usually receive from other chains.

Rating: 2.5/5

Published Articles

Solution to Assaults

By Sharon Carpenter

Thursday, October 4, 2007

GLASSBORO- The last thing students at Rowan University expected to hear when they returned to class after a fun-filled Labor Day weekend was news of their peers being robbed and sexually assaulted. These unfortunate events took place in the early hours of Saturday, September 1 at Beau Rivage Townhouses in Glassboro, NJ.

At 2:41 A.M. the Glassboro Police Department responded to a large fight and two unconscious people in Beau. Two of the subjects told officers that they were assaulted by five unknown males who punched and kicked them in the head and face. They also robbed them, taking their money, cell phones, and wallets. There was also a third victim that was hit in the face with a vodka bottle causing a severe cut and broken bones in the face. Only three out of the five suspects were caught and police are looking for the others.

Because the victims were all Rowan students, Rowan University and Glassboro responded immediately. The next morning, Rowan Pubic Safety, the Glassboro command staff, the president of Rowan University, and the two vice presidents of Rowan met together. After rigorous hours of discussion, they came up with a solution.

Glassboro Police Department will be sending two or three officers to team up with two or three officers from Rowan Public Safety. Together they form the party patrol. The party patrol will be going on evenings and weekends to check for noise, parties, and any suspicious behavior.

“We’ve had robberies and sexual assaults before, but this was different because it was the first weekend that freshmen were alone, “said Timothy Michener, Director of Public Safety.

“We’ve already issued 87 citations in the first 18 days. Last year in the first 18 days we issued 15. We are taking this seriously,” said Michener.

The Beau Rivage landlord is also taking the proper precautions to try and prevent this from happening again. In fact, Mike Williams, landlord of Beau and President of Homeowner Association, drove back from a vacation to meet with the Rowan and Glassboro police the next morning.

Beau Rivage pays Glassboro police overtime for providing extra security every weekend. Although it is tedious for them to pay extra money for them to patrol, Beau Rivage has found that providing additional officers on foot has seemed to be the most effective. This allows the officers to become more mobile and allows them to patrol areas within a closer range.

“We have hired Glassboro police for security every weekend. This gives us private security. We’re going to continue down the path we’re going,” said Williams.

Although there was a DWI check on Route 322 in Glassboro the same night, Rowan Public Safety said there wasn’t any correlation between the assaults and robberies and the police presence at the DWI.

“I was appalled, fearful for the students, and I felt horrible for the families of the students that were treated so badly,” said Joanne Damminger, Executive Assistant to the Vice President of Student Affairs.

Damminger claimed that there were several meetings set up amongst the Rowan administration to take immediate action. Their main concern was that harm caused to Rowan students was being caused off-campus and by non-students. The Division of Student Affairs is currently trying to make recommendations to President Farish about what should be done. In fact, the administration of Rowan University is planning a day-long retreat about alcohol abuse response. They will be focusing on what more to do, how to respond, and how to treat the students that have been harmed from the events.

Damminger felt that incidents like this could occur anywhere and at anytime, but they’ve never been a problem. She felt that it was different this time because of the number of students involved in the incidents. The particularly pleasant weather might have played a role in the incidents because of the amount of people that wanted to be outside together.

Students living in the nearby area are also taking proper precautions to protect themselves. Lauren Blose, a sophomore at Rowan University lives in the Beau Rivage townhouse complex. She didn’t think much of it when she returned to her apartment that night and saw the police at Beau. Police are usually patrolling the Beau area as it area is known for loud social events. She went to bed and figured it was the usual patrolling.

The next morning she checked the Owl Alert (the campus security email) and found out about the unfortunate events. After learning about the events she claims to have carried a can of Mace around with her the next night because she was fearful from the events the night before. She feels the police patrolling constantly are a step in the right direction towards a safer environment around campus.

“I’d rather get a ticket for drinking and have police constantly patrolling than get raped,” says Blose.

Tara Kalivas, a senior at Rowan University, lives in Campus Crossings the apartment complex right next to Beau Rivage. She claims she heard by word of mouth the next day and was surprised when she found out because she doesn’t remember this ever happening before since she’s lived there. Kalivas is concerned as to the way police are responding to the events. She feels that the police are concentrating too much on alcohol violations rather than the safety.

“Students should be educated about safety such as not walking alone. There should be more security people walking around and not only patrolling parties,” said Kalivas.

Aside from the extra patrolmen that Glassboro and Rowan are sending out, Rowan also has many precautions. Rowan has 47 blue light telephones for students to gain direct access to public safety. They also offer Rape Against Defense courses (12-hour self-defense courses) free of charge for women of all ages. Rowan Public Safety also offers an escort service free to all students at all hours of the night. The escort will take the student from where they are and return them to their final destination.

“Always believe that people by nature will rise to expectations, but what should be done is to have high reasonable expectations,” said Damminger.

Studio News Experience

Aside from still working 6 days a week and 40+ hours a week, I have had an interesting week. My manager notified me that Studio News (an internal news company for Disney) would be taping a transaction done at one of our stores to broadcast on the news program for the week. Every hour, a cast member in a store is required to do a Magical Moment with a guest. A Magical Moment can be as simple as playing a game of tic-tac-toe with a child or playing a trivia game with a guest. This particular broadcast was to portray what a Magical Moment looks like at our different stores.

I had the chance to meet and get to know what the Studio News team does. Every week they do a new show of the happenings and events taking place in Walt Disney World. The broadcast is then shown on all Disney Cast Member televisions in break rooms and different cast rooms so cast members are aware of what is going on in and around the company. The broadcaster explained how his particular pitch was to tape different Magical Moments done within all the parks to show cast members the variety of different Magical Moments.

It was interesting to see how an internal news company compares with an external news company. Internal news companies still have to go out and interview different people and cover different events, but they get to stay within the company. Everyone all shares a common interset as well; they work for Disney. External news companies can be a little more challenging as journalists and broadcasters are required to interview and talk with strangers on events that might not even affect the journalists in any way.

This week's Disney Exploration Series in Guest Service talked about different leadership skills. It was extremely interesting because the information didn't simply apply to Disney, but life applications as well. For example, we did a hands-on activity on what we thought what traits good and bad leaders should possess. We also talked about different stages of leadership. For example, in Disney there are three different stages of leadership in any working field; entry level management, area management, and general management. As a person works their way up less technical skills are needed and more of an emotional and IQ are needed.

We did an activity at the end in which we worked in partners. One partner was an angered guest and the other was the manager. In front of the class we had to act out how we would solve the situation and then perform instant guest recovery to make up for the poor experience the guest had. I found this to be extremely interesting because it was situations we deal with every day.

Layout of Parks

All classes are cancelled again this week because of the peak spring break season. College program participants are all working 50 plus hours this week therefore they cancel classes for us because of the crazy hours we will be working. I am working 52 hours this week and 48 hours next week. Once the spring break peak season dies down classes will go back to normal along with our regular hours.

The layout of all the Walt Disney World theme parks are planned and purposeful. Three of the four theme parks are in the shape of a hub. A hub has a central point and then the rest of the locations branch out from that central hub making it very easy for guests to navigate through the park. The Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and the Animal Kingdom are the three parks that have hubs at Walt Disney World. They each have a central point.

Magic Kingdom's central hub is Cinderellas Castle. Main Street U.S.A., Frontierland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Mickey's Toontown Fair, and Fantasyland are the six different parts of the park that branch out from Cinderella's Castle.

EPCOT's main central point is Innoventions, a walk-though tour of inventions of the future. This park is set up a little bit differently because all the attractions branch out from Innoventions as opposed to different lands. The World Showcase part of EPCOT is an "O" shaped layout around the World Showcase Lagoon.

Animal Kingdom's main hub is Discovery Island. Africa, Asia, Dinoland U.S.A., the Oasis, and Camp Minnie Mickey are the different lands that branch out from this central point.

Fun Facts of the Week

Animal Kingdom Fun Facts

The Tree of Life is the Animal Kingdom's main icon. It is 145,000 feet tall and has over 100,000 leaves on the tree. The most interesting part about the icon is that is secretly contains over 325 animals carved into the trunk of the tree.

Disney's new Expedition Everest is a roller coaster in which guests try to escape from Mt. Everest. If you stand just before the Asian statue in one area of the park, the peaks of the mountain and the points of the statue line up exactly to match each other's points.

"Slow" Week

These next 2 weeks...(April 2-16) are the two busiest weeks of the internship. We are told to be at our best at all times because not only area managers, but general managers will be walking around the park because of the high capacity of people that will be coming through. In fact, classes are even cancelled for this week because of the amount of hours. We will be working anywhere from 50-60 hours this week.

I've learned a lot during this internship program about service recovery. When guests are unsatisfied or unhappy with the quality or performance of Walt Disney World, it is required to implement service recovery. In other words, we need to make up for their unsatisfaction. It can be anywhere from a free popcorn to a free night in a resort depending on the circumstance. Although I experience minor service recoveries such as free popcorn everyday, this past week I experienced a more severe service recovery situation.

A guest had purchased about 12 items from the Star Tours (Tatooine Traders) store. The guest had taken advantage of the service of having it shipped to their resort for free. Unfortunately, the guest's items were lost on the way over. We had to find every single item that was in the guest's bag in the store and make up the same package for them. The guest's bag was then delivered personally to their room. Although the guest's experience was a little tedious, they received want they wanted and Disney went above and beyond.

This week should prove to be a real test as the numbers of people in the park are going to be extremely high and extremely busy. I am hoping to exhibit my best guest service skills possible this week.

Fun Fact of the Week to come...

Campus Representative/ Disney's Exploration Series

One of the perks of becoming a Disney College Program Alumni is that you can apply for a position known as a Campus Representative. As a Campus Rep, it is your job to promote and introduce the Disney College Program to students on your current campus. Therefore, if I were to receive the position, I would be responsible to attending and promoting the program to students on the Rowan campus. Applications are due in April 1 and we are required to hand in a cover letter as well.
Qualifications for being a representative are:

• Alumni of the Disney College Program.
• Enrolled full-time or part-time in a college or university
• Full-availability during the recruiting semester
• Exhibit outstanding leadership qualities, highly creative and well organized
• Maintain good standing with the Walt Disney World Co.

One of the other great perks about becoming a Campus Representative is that you get to enjoy all the privilages of a current college program participant such as free park entry and discounts on merchandise and food.

I would really enjoy taking on this position because I absolutely love the work I'm doing down here and I would love to take it back up to Rowan with me because I love the work I do at Rowan also. I think it would be a great oppurtunity for me to stay in contact with the Disney company, but at the same time share my incredible experience with other students at Rowan. We will be contacted about interviews after we've submitted our applications. Ill keep updates posted about it.

This week's Disney Exploration Series in Guest Serivce was in the field of Quick Service Food and Beverage. Now I must say, I was very deceived going into the class. I thought how interesting could a class be when we are talking to managers about fast food. I must say it was honestly the best class I've attended so far. Not only did they present the food choice decision they have to make everyday, but we got to sample what kind of decisions they are faced with as well in an activity at the end.

The activity was called Iron Chef and its rules were similiar to the one seen on the Food Network. We were broken up into groups and were given various snacks such as graham crackers, apples, M&Ms, marshmallows, peanut butter, rolls, English muffins, jelly, and banana chips. We were instructed we had to use the peanut butter but all other ingredients were optional. We were also given a sheet on how much of each item would cost to make our snack. Our next step was to make a snack or meal that guests in Walt Disney World would buy while staying in the budget and giving our snack a price and name. Our group decided to put peanut butter on the apple and throw some M&Ms and marshmallows on it, giving it a healthy side, but also the sweet taste. We named it the Messy Mickey.

We lost the competition because of the name. The managers said that giving a snack a name like that would cause the parents to instantly trigger "mess" when they heard of the name. It was very interesting to hear information like this because I think the decisions that go into food and beverage in Walt Disney World are underestimated and are just as challenging as opening up a new attraction. I thought the class was extremely interesting and I learned a lot about marketing.

Disney Fun Fact of the Week:
Spaceship Earth in EPCOT is designed with a special irrigation system that allows the water to run off to the sides intead of dripping straight down the globe and onto the guests walking underneath it. If you can see in the picture the posts coming straight down on the right and left side are what take the rain and flush it out and over the stores next to it and far away from the guests. If these posts were not present, the rain would run straight down the ball and onto the guests.

Professional Internship/Disney's Exploration Series in Guest Service

While talking with my managers last week, they offered me a professional internship position in management at Disney's MGM Studios. The internship would entail the responsibilities of what the current managers are doing such as coordinating cast members, opening and closing, and financially mantaining the merchandise locations. A professional internship is an internship that is higher than a college program internship that puts both feet in the door of having a career with Disney. Although the management position would be great, I would ideally like to do some kind of journalism internship. Perhaps maybe one for ESPN or a local newspaper. I'm even going to look further into getting some kind of professional journalism internship through Disney.

This week's Disney's Exploration Series in Guest Service was on park operations. Even though I will not be receiving any credit for this class, I'm really enjoying this series because we are receiving all the backstage information that Disney does from the top executives in the company. This week's session was conducted by Stockton Toler, Park Operations Manager at the Magic Kingdom. This year, Disney is conducting a special promotional year called the Year of a Million Dreams. Disney has hired a special team known as the Dream Team consisting of seventeen members that go to certain parks each day and award prizes at random to guests. Prizes consist of a lanyard with the Year of a Million Dreams pins all the way up to a 4 night cruise on the Disney Cruise Line. The Dream Team awards randomally for instance picking seat number 86 in the 3:00 Lion King Show. But what happens if there isn't anybody in seat number 86 for the 3:00 show? Toler explained that the prize is then marked as failure to reward and goes back into the pool to be awarded at a later time. At the end of class, Toler showed a video of a certain Year of a Million Dreams prize that was awarded. A family of four was waiting in line at the Magic Kingdom for it to open. They were selected at random to walk into the park before it was open down a red carpet placed on Main Street. When they got to the middle of the street, they were instructed to stop and turn around and wave. The greeter got on the loudspeaker and welcomed the family to the Magic Kingdom. Once he was done, every single cast member and character would popped out of the stores and shops lining Main Street and greeted them. It was quite the sight to see as each member of the family's jaw dropped and did not close until the end of the video. It's certain things like this that make me excited to go to work each day and makes me even more excited to report them. Certain things like this have taught me that we can present customer service in a fun way too. We are definitely making their day yet doing it in a fun way for everyone. That's the Disney Difference. There is a publication that Disney puts out called the Main Street Diary which is an internal publication for cast members to read about certain events such as Year of a Million Dreams happenings for the week. I think it would be interesting to see if I could possible report on one of those events for the publication.

Here is a website that explains the Year of a Million Dreams prizes and details.
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/index?name=YOMDLowBandPage

My friends from Rowan visited this past week for their spring break so I didn't have the chance to work as much, but it certainly was interesting and exciting to tell them everything I've learned so far about Disney. For example, as discussed prior, the Mickey pole seen on the top of Crossroads at MGM Studios, is a lightning rod. They had no idea. It was also very interesting to see their reactions to the information I told them. They were so surprised at all the Disney secrets that they had never known when they previously visited the parks.

Fun Disney Fact: The Contemporary Resort is the largest A-framed building in the world (as seen in picture above.)

Results of ESPN weekend/Guest Service Class

This past weekend (March 2-4) Disney's MGM Studios hosted its annual ESPN weekend. The event went extremely well and it was especially successful for Disney's MGM Studios because of the publicty and attention it received from the media and ESPN. Famous athletes such as David Robinson, Charles Tillman, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Adam Vinatieri, and many more. They participated in interviews, live game shows, ESPN shows broadcasted live from MGM Studios, and guests got the oppurtunity to interact and with the athletes and ESPN broadcasters.

Because I have a great interest in hopefully writing for Disney or ESPN one day, this past weekend was a great oppurtunity for me. I was privilaged enough to be able to work for the special events team under the management of Mike Lolli, Disney's Special Events & Production Manager of MGM Studios. Although I didn't get the oppurtunity to directly network with any of the ESPN broadcasters or journalists I was able to become more familiar with their names and personalities. One of my managers for merchandise knows one of the ESPN employees and she said she might be able to introduce me to him in future. Overall, it was a great oppurtunity for me to become familiar with and make my name known in the two major companies I would like to eventually work in.

It was also very interesting to see the way in which Disney hosts special events. They have such a particular yet logical way of treating and transporting celebrities. For example, instead of having a group of body guards move the athletes from place to place and event to event, they had one person from guest relations transport the celebrity to where they needed to go. This particular way was not overwhelming to the guests, but yet kept the athletes safe and accounted for. I thought this was extremely successful for Disney to do and once again something they did that made them stand out from the other companies. They also involved all ages in the event so that the entire family could be a part of the event. For example, they hosted a Motorcade Parade in which the atheletes would ride down Hollywood Boulevard (the main street in MGM) in fancy sport cars and sitting right next to them would be a Disney character such as Mickey Mouse. This way Mom and Dad would be interesting in the parade, and yet the kids would enjoy the event too.

I was also very excited to meet and get autographs from David Robinson, Jim Palmer, Brian McCann, and Charles Tillman. I don't think I have a future career in the NFL, NBA, or MLB but it was a nice oppurtunity all in all.

This past Wednesday ( 3/7) I attended my first Disney's Exploration Series in Guest Service class. This weeks topic was resorts. The class was taught by Mayra Santiago, the head manager of Disney resorts. It was extremely interesting to learn the ways in which Disney designs and themes resorts to cater to certain audiences. For example, Disney resort cast members use a 5 step cycle to advertise and cater to guests. It goes from Anticipation, Welcome, Experience, Farewell, and Savoring. Basically Disney looks for ways to cater to guests as they are anticipating on coming to giving them the best possible guest service even when they leave and are planning their next vacation. The guest service simply doesn't only exist during the vacation; it is also before and after as well. Next week's topic is Park Operations and Guest Service in which we will hear from Park Operations Managers to teach the ways in which guest service can be seen through park operations at Walt Disney World.

Disney Exploration Series in Guest Service Class

This past week I signed up for another free class offered by Disney. This one is a little different from the Communications course I am taking. The official title of it is Exploring Guest Service at the Walt Disney World Resort. The objective of the course is to view how Disney has exceled in its guest service and how we can apply and learn the ways in which they practice it. The class is an 8 week class that meets every Wednesday for 2 hours. We will be looking at guest service through resorts, merchandise, park operations, food and beverage, and Disney profile leaders. One of the best parts of the class is that we will get to meet many different Disney executives. I am extremely excited to do this because I think it will be a great networking oppurtunity for me. My homework for the week consists of going to Disney's Grand Floridian Beach Resort and Spa. I have to observe the guest, cast and overall resort including the parking lot, porte cochere, lobby and lobby manager, and other leaders in the area, and theming. I am extremely excited to plunge into this course because I think I will be able to take a lot of the information I learn with me.

I also learned another interesting fact about how Disney's MGM Studios strategically places its garbages. All Disney garbages are 22 feet apart. In order to calculate the exact distance, Walt Disney handed guests who first entered Disneyland a piece of candy at the entrance. He would then calculate how many wrappers people left and how far away they were. It turned out that the distance from the distribution to the dropping of the wrapper was an average of 22 feet. Therefore, Disney has garbages every 22 feet from each other.

Disney Communications Course

While doing my Disney internship, I am also taking a course that meets once a week. The name of the course is Disney Communications Course and it meets every Wednesday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. The course is recommeneded by the American Council on Education for 3 semester hours in Communication, Hospitality Management, Business Administration, or Management. The professor, Scott Duncan, is retired from the military and his job now is to mainly focus on teaching as Walt Disney World.

There are many learning objectives involved in the course. They are to describe the importance of of communications theory and application to business success, relate basic theories of communication to the Walt Disney World Resort's business and guest service practices, and identify and practice effective communication techniques in a variety of contexts.

There are many different assignments and evaluations. All students are required to do a communication behavior paper, a 1 minute impromptu speech, a 1-2 minute persuasive speech, a 4-5 minute prepared informative speech, a 3-4 minute entertaining speech, a 1-2 minute extemporaneous speech, an informative research paper, and take a final exam. The communication behavior paper is 1-2 page action plan for applying principles to being a more effective communicator. The informative research paper is a 1-2 page research paper on the topic of the Informative Speech.

Overall, I have found the class to be extremely interesting. We presented our first speeches (persuasive speech) on why the Polynesian is the best family resort at Walt Disney World. I think my communication skills are above average and I think this class will help them to become excellent. One of the most interesting topics we've touched upon has been the idea of listening. Many people confuse communication with simply talking, but the other half (listening) is completely forgotten. We also learned that there are many different types of listeners such as active, passive, and controlling.

The name of our text is Communication in a Changing World by Bethami Dobkin and Roger Pace. We are required to read 3 chapters a week from the text. I find that I learn more from attending the classes, but the text is a good supplement to what we've learned. For example, the last chapter we had to read was how to present a speech. Our professor gave us chocolate and required us to present a 2 minute speech on the spot about the chocolate. I learned more from the chocolate demonstration than from reading the textbook.

This is a link to the course's syllabus for more in-depth information.
http://www.wdwcollegeprogram.com/sap/its/mimes/zh_wdwcp/syllabi/CommunicSyll.pdf

ESPN Weekend

Disney's MGM Studios is currently preparing to host Disney's ESPN Weekend taking place next weekend (March 3-5.) ESPN weekend is basically live telecasts of shows on ESPN such as Sportscenter that are all broadcasted live from MGM Studios. Many different athletes such as David Robinson and Michelle Kwan will be present at the event for question and answer sessions. There will also be many interactive games for guests to play and give them the real sports experience. The following two websites explain the event in a little more detail. I will be able to explain the event in more detail as well once it starts. For right now, Disney's MGM Studios is getting ready and all cast members will be working as best they can to make a good impression of not only the park, but Disney.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/specialEvents?id=ESPNSpecialEventPage&CMP=KNC-WDWEspnTWGoogle&HBX_PK=espn+weekend&HBX_OU=50

http://espntw.secondthought.com/?CMP=BAC-ESPNTW1001

More fun facts about Disney's MGM Studios

Here are some more fun facts that I've learned while participating in the Disney Internship Program.

This gift shop to the left may look like an ordinary MGM movie themed gift shop. The entrance of this shop is designed to look like the guests will be entering a theatre. The name of the theatre is Carthay Circle which was an actual theatre in California. One of Disney's best creations, Snow White, premeired in the Carthay Circle Theatre. This movie is still one of the best selling animated movies of all time. Therefore, since Disney's first animated movie was such a big hit, the Walt Disney World Resort decided to name one of their Disney MGM Studios gift shops after the birthplace of Disney's blockbuster animated movie. This name is extremely significant and not many guests know the significance of its name.

Fun Facts About Disney's MGM Studios

This first picture signifies one of the most interesting facts I've learned about Disney's MGM Studios while working there so far. As guests enter the park they see this tall pole with Mickey Mouse standing on the world on top. Underneath the pole is a small gift shop called the Crossroads. Most guests think this is just a landmark and architecture for them to look at while they enter the park. This is acutally a lightning rod as Orlando, Florida is the lightning capital of the country. Once again a hidden secret kept by Disney in diguising everyday necessities with authentic items from the park.

This second picture may look like the typical Tower of Terror attraction in Disney's MGM Studios. The height of the tower is acutally very significant. They refer to the tower as "one foot under the red light." In other words, in Orlando 200 ft. on a building is the limit for an airplane light to warn airplanes of tall buildings. The Tower of Terror is 199 ft. (one foot under the limit) which was done purposely to avoid having to use an airplane light and destroying the authenticity of the park.

2nd week

This photo is the Careerbuilder.com and Disney commercial that will be aired in the future that I took part in. I am just to the right of the word "your." The name of the campaign is Find Your Dream Job.

I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable not only with my job but working in Disney's MGM Studios. Overall the park layout is pretty simplistic to explain to guests. There are two parts: Sunset Boulevard and the Backlands Area. I am stationed in the Backlands Area.





I have also learned why and how Disney goes above and beyond exceptional customer service. In the Merchandise field specifically Cast Members must not only do the transaction correctly for the customer, but also touch on guest service points. Disney holds their cast members to extremely high standards, but that is essential for such a Fortune 400 company. The customer service skills that I will be learning while working for Disney are one of a kind and will be exceptional to take with me in future occupations.

Media Event Links

I have included three websites that explain the Careerbuilder.com and Disney campaign that was launched last Thursday. This is the even that I attended and will star in the commercial in the future. It is interesting to see how the media portrayed the event from how I experienced it. For example, the media portrays the event to have run smoothly and taking place for a short span of time. In reality, we had to be there for seven hours and had to do the commercial three times. Also, the presidents had to say their pre-written speeches numerous times and there were a couple dress rehearsals to launch the media event. It is very interesting to acutally experience the media event and then see people's interpretations.

http://www.careerbuilder.com/disneydreamjobs/home.asp

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070127/BUSINESS/701270328/1003

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orl-weiss26_107jan26,0,7173146.story?coll=orl-news-headlines