A LOCAL
Spotlight
Lorain Girl Fulfills Dream of Working for
Disney As tears rushed to her eyes, Madison Maniaci clicked on a link to an email that read, “You have been accepted to the Disney College Program.” When Madison first visited Walt Disney World in 2004, she could recall her earliest memories of riding on the carousel and watching the fireworks in front of Cinderella’s castle. Little did she know, she would someday be working directly behind that very castle in Disney's Magic Kingdom. Madison is a Lorain-native and, on her days off, spends her time volunteering as the Lorain International Festival secretary and working within the community. She first heard about the Disney College Program (DCP) her senior year of high school. After attending Lorain County Community College, she continued her studies at Kent State University to earn her bachelor’s degree in marketing. In the fall of 2019, she applied for DCP in hopes of working for the company and was accepted for the spring and summer months of 2020.
photos courtesy of Madison Maniaci
After news spread about the pandemic, her plans changed, and she received word that, for the first time in history, Walt Disney World would shut down indefinitely.
After months of waiting to hear a response, in the spring of 2021, the Disney company announced it would be offering positions to DCP participants again. Madison applied and heard back from them on August 13, with a move-in arrival of September 20. Her program would last until January 13, 2022.
Lorain Local Magazine | page 27
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“I figured that I would never be able to have a shot at the DCP again. That was the first time that they had ever stopped accepting college program participants even when they opened back up post-pandemic.”
