Kennesaw State student will use technology to create magic during Disney internship

KENNESAW, Ga.
(May possibly 3, 2022) — April Breedlove’s passion for computer systems and coding, mixed with her intense perseverance,
has gained her a prestigious internship at Disney Environment this summertime.

Breedlove, a junior laptop science key in the College of Computing and Application Engineering (CCSE), will dwell in Orlando for three months and operate as a software program engineering intern with
Walt Disney Points of interest Technologies.

“I’m heading to be dwelling out my aspiration,” reported Breedlove, who transferred to Kennesaw
Point out this tumble after graduating high school early. An knowledge in Disney Globe
3 a long time in the past shaped that desire and adjusted the trajectory of her everyday living.

In 2019, Breedlove was one particular of 100 large college college students nationwide acknowledged into the
exceptional Disney Dreamers Academy (DDA). The 4-working day, all-bills-paid excursion introduces
learners from underrepresented communities to all the possibilities Disney supplies
as a result of career workshops and mentoring periods.

“I assumed there was no way I would get in,” Breedlove claimed, following her initial application
was denied. “But rising up, my mother always reported, ‘Never permit anxiety halt you from carrying out
what you want, simply because you do not know what you could be lacking.’ I’m so happy I followed
that information and used again.”

At DDA, Breedlove joined the technological innovation Deep Dive, a individualized compact group based mostly
on participants’ career interests, the place she labored on Disney’s Magic Bands. The waterproof wristbands allow company to unlock their lodge space, enter theme parks, pay back
for food and a great deal far more by tapping the band to a touch position sensor. 

“Prior to my encounter in the Disney Dreamers Academy, I did not know that Disney
wanted application engineers,” she extra. “I remaining that Deep Dive recognizing I needed to return.”

Two many years immediately after DDA, Breedlove was rushing to course on Kennesaw State’s Marietta campus
when she observed a booth established up for the pupil corporation Girls Who Code. Learners
at the booth claimed they were being web hosting a job fair and a recruiter from Disney was
heading to be there. Breedlove attended the career fair and eagerly place together her Disney Qualified
Internship software. A number of weeks later on, she received a phone from a recruiter.

“She explained to me they wished me to join the workforce as a software program engineering intern and
I started out crying,” Breedlove remembers. “This has been my desire due to the fact higher school, but
minimal did I know there would be more.” 

As she wrapped her head around commencing her aspiration internship, Breedlove was stunned
to get an electronic mail from DDA employees asking her to return to the Academy and mentor the
newest team of high university students.

“I wished to have an particular person impression on each student in my team,” Breedlove stated
after she returned to campus. “I definitely concentrated on making people connections, mainly because
connections at DDA and KSU are what served get me to this position.” 

When she returns to Orlando this summertime, she will intern with the exact staff that encouraged
her 3 many years in the past. 

“That Deep Dive in significant college sparked almost everything for me,” she claimed. “One of the speakers
named it a ‘destiny moment’ where you notice what you want to do and what you want
to be. I’m searching ahead to more of those moments this summer.” 

– Abbey O’Brien Barrows

Pics by Judy Pishnery

Connected Tales

A chief in modern instructing and finding out, Kennesaw Condition University features undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees to its approximately 43,000 pupils. With 11 schools on two metro Atlanta campuses, Kennesaw Point out is a member of the College Technique of Ga. The university’s vibrant campus society, numerous inhabitants, powerful world ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw college students from through the state and the planet. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-selected doctoral study institution (R2), positioning it among the an elite team of only 6 per cent of U.S. faculties and universities with an R1 or R2 position. For extra info, visit kennesaw.edu.