Why I'm disappointed in the DCP web-based interview
Alright guys, here goes nothing. I've been very frustrated the past month and a half because I was rejected from the Disney College Program after taking the web-based interview.
Here's my personal story: When I was 3 years old, my mother was diagnosed with Leukemia. She was treated at the best cancer hospital in New York City and I lived in New Jersey. I saw her once to twice a week, depending on whether my father could drive me into the city on weekends when I wasn't attending preschool. I didn't understand what was the matter with my mom or why she wasn't living at home.
My dad would tell me, "Mommy isn't feeling well, Allison, but don't worry, you can't get sick from her. Just try to make her laugh and she might feel a bit better." So that's precisely what I did. Besides the fact that before my mom got sick, a video camera was permanently strapped onto my dad's body, constantly recording anything and everything I did, this is what became my motivation to perform and draw. Anything I created in preschool was hung on her hospital wall. When I came to visit I would read a book to her aloud and be all the different characters, or sing her a song. All of these things brought a smile to her face no matter how weak she felt or how badly she was doing.
Now this was in 1995, and cancer research was still not that great, but what they did find out is that if she got a bone marrow transplant, her chance of survival would go from 0% to 30%, so even with the odds against her, that's what my parents decided to do. Miraculously it worked and the bone marrow transplant allowed my mom to raise me into adulthood. Throughout my childhood I would continue to long to make her smile. To make her happy made me happy. When I would sing her a song and she'd laugh and applaud for me in our living room, it gave me such a sense of self-fulfillment. That's when I learned: I want to dedicate my life to making others happy.
My mom got me into theatre at 6 years old. I was in The Nutcracker as an angel with my ballet school. At 9 I got into my first musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, in the kids chorus. Ever since then, she was my biggest supporter and I would look for her in the audience to see if she was smiling at me up on stage. I went on to go to study acting at the Freehold Performing Arts Center at Howell High School and later become a theatre major concentrating in Acting at Muhlenberg College. My reasons for becoming an actor are to make other people smile because that is what drives me to keep doing what I'm doing.
Needless to say, that reason is why I'm so passionate about wanting to work for Disney. Disney World is the happiest place on earth and where dreams come true. My mom's Make a Wish trip was to Disney and it was very special for me and my family. We could barely ever go on vacation because of my Mom's medical bills, but that trip to Disney was wonderful and filled with memories.
As I grew older I visited Disney with my friends. My first time going to Disney World since I was 6 with my parents was when I was 17 with my two best friends. I tagged along on my friend's family trip. It was one of the most memorable experiences I've had and the happiest I had been in a while.
Around New Years when I was 16 my mom was sent in for her annual checkup and the doctors started finding small tumors on her lungs and other organs. They determined they were not harmful at that point and time, but that they would keep and eye on them. I turned 17 the January after and the next 2 years was a roller coaster for my family.
My mother's health gradually declined. By my 18th birthday she had significantly slowed down, been less active, and stopped driving. She had a pic line installed (a permanent IV) that would constantly be feeding her various medications issued by her doctors. She spent more and more time sleeping in bed. This was around the time I was auditioning for colleges. So what did I do? Anything in my power to make her smile.
I performed my audition materials for her, told her stories, pet her hair, rubbed her back, laid there hugging her as we watched a movie, and told her I loved her. I considered not going to college when I was accepted, but she told me her dream was to see me go off to college... so I did.
My dad moved me into college without my mom. She stayed home and rested and he helped me put everything away in my dorm. Both of my roommates had both of their parents there helping them move in and seeing them off. I had only my dad.
(Side note to this story: I am very close with my dad. He is my best friend. I love him so much it hurts me whenever he is hurting. I live to please him. He has been my rock these past few years and I support him as he supports me. He is remarried now to a beautiful and wonderful woman I'm delighted to call my step-mother. She hates the term because she thinks it sounds evil because of the Cinderella connotation and she refuses to call me her step-daughter. She calls me rather, her "new daughter." I can't call her my "new mother" because I only have one mother. But she treats me as her own and I love her for that.)
My dad left at the end of that day. Every day I called home to talk to my mom. Her voice got more raspy and weak every day. Two weeks into the semester my dad surprised me at school. I asked, "What are you doing here?" He responded, "Allison, I have terrible news. The doctor said Mommy only has 2 to 10 weeks to live. I'm taking you home this weekend and I'll take you back next week."
My heart shattered. I thought, "I knew I should have stayed home. I knew I should have worked and taken care of my mom. I knew I shouldn't have gone to college..." but then I remembered my mom's dream for me, and this was it, so I persevered.
A few weeks after I came home for the weekend and my dad brought me back to school, he called again. He said the doctors were baffled because my mom's health drastically improved in the few weeks after I came home. They had actually given her 2 weeks to live, but told my dad to tell me 2 to 10 to make me less anxious. But here she was still fighting. She made it through Halloween and Thanksgiving. She even came to campus to see me perform with my show choir and as I sang my solo I looked out and saw her smiling.
December 16th, 2010 was the day my final paper was due for my last class my first semester of college. My dad was to pick me up that day and bring me home for winter break to spend it with my mom. I would never see her again. At 3:00 in the morning on December 16th, 2010 my dad called and woke me up crying that my mommy had passed away in his arms. She could barely talk, couldn't open her eyes, she didn't remember who anyone was except for my dad... she didn't even remember me.
After I stayed up all night sobbing to my wonderful hall mates who sat with me and comforted me, my uncle picked me up as my dad made preparations for my return and the arrival of my family. Everyone asked me, "How are you so strong?" I said, "I'm not, but I have to be because that is how my mother raised me; to conquer my fears and all of my hopes and dreams would come true, and to be brave despite the face of danger and death."
From that moment onward I vowed to help people be happy. It brings me joy to help other people. When a friend is in need, I am first to help. When a friend is upset, I am first to listen. When a friend has nowhere to go, I offer them anything I have.
Working for Disney is my dream because I want to contribute to people's happiness. When I'm sad, I listen to Disney music, or watch the movies, or the shows, or read up on facts because the fantastical elements of the Disney enterprise gives me hope, happiness and something to believe in. As they say, "When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true," and "A dream is a wish your heart makes." My dream is to make people happy and that is precisely what Disney facilitates.
I've had magical moments of my own at the Disney Parks that has put permanent smiles on my face for the durations of my stay there. That is why I wanted to be a part of the Disney College Program. I went so far as to go to Disney World this past summer and seek out alumni and current people participating in the program to get advice from them as well as go to the casting center to get as much information as I could.
All of these individuals gave me terrific insight and advice and I was so excited to get my process started. I set up my profile and took the web-based interview.
Not only were the questions I was issued incredibly unclear, but my computer suffered a glitch in the middle where the screen froze and multiple screens flashed at me before bringing me to another page. The interview for which I was warned takes 40 minutes took me 25 minutes to complete. The result I got? "We have no positions available for you at this time." My heart shattered, it was like my mom's spirit died within me all over again. All my hopes and dreams to make people happy disappeared because of a computerized test which included a glitch.
I talked to many recruitment people on the phone who gave me no chance to share my story. So here it is. This is why I want to work for Disney. The college program has been a dream of mine for years and I prepared accordingly. It is the perfect way to transition into life down there after college. (Did I mention I'm graduating, so I would have no opportunity to do the program again?) Waiting 6 months to possibly never work there is not a good enough answer for me.
Disney broke my heart. The thing that has given me light in every bad time of my life is now tainted with this feeling of helplessness. I want to work in the Walt Disney World resort to bring magic to families who are lucky enough to join together to create memories of their own, and now I have no idea when I'll be able to do that.
People ask, why not apply for a job rather than the college program? My answer is firstly, I have to wait six months, secondly, I have no place to live. If I was guaranteed housing that would be a different story, but I'm going to be fresh out of college, I can't afford to live on my own just yet.
People also ask, why not apply for a professional internship? My answer is that is not my point. My dream is to work in the parks or the hotels or the restaurants across the resort. To have direct contact with guests who I can smile at and engage with and bring some magic to their experiences directly. A professional internship would not allow me to have that experience.
I truly believe I am perfect to work for the Disney company as well as to be a part of the Disney College Program. If anyone can help me by sharing my story, I would be immensely grateful.
