Canadian students travel to UF, Disney to complete Disney International Academic Exchange Program

July 10, 2018

From June 28th to July 9th, 17 students from various Canadian universities spent the week in Gainesville before traveling down to Orlando to complete the Disney International Program. These students are all prart of the Disney International Academic Exchange Program at UF. This program consists taking UF online courses at the beginning of the summer and then traveling to Florida to complete the Disney International Program for six months. The students spend over a week in Gainesville for an Orientation Week in which they stay in on-campus dorms and are shown what it is like to be a UF student. 

During their time here in Gainesville, they took trips to Lake Wauberg and Ichetucknee Springs to experience the weather and nature that north Florida has to offer. They received presentations about professionalism from Alison Noonan from the UF Career Resource Center and about sports marketing and collegiate athletics from James Slagle from the University Athletic Association. They received tours and participated in professional interactions with Laura Shiver from AC Hotels Downtown Gainesville, Kate Eames and the rest of the staff from The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island, Jerica Manzi from The Amelia Island Club, and Matt Borocz from TPC Sawgrass.

Now in Orlando, the students will spend the next six months working for Disney in various roles from such as merchandise, attractions, and food and beverage. They will come back to Gainesville for homecoming weekend and then will begin two more courses in the Fall while working.

More information about the program: ufdex.org