Six UF students are among the finalists for a Disney competition.
On Jan. 25, they will travel to the Disney Imagineering Imaginations Design Competition fi- nals in Glendale, California, to compete for a $1,000 grant and cash prize. The competition aims to find new ways to bring Disney to small communities in the U.S.
As finalists, these UF students will be considered for a paid internship as well.
The UF students’ idea would have participants interact with Mickey Mouse and a new character they created, said Nathan DeKrey, a UF mechanical engineering senior.
DeKrey, 22, said he led the project and oversaw the technology needed for their idea. KaTosha O’Daniel, a 28-year-old UF English doctoral candidate, created a story to accompany the new character in order to draw the audience in.
Sofia Ouhri, a 21-year-old UF graphic design junior, and India Brooks, a UF architecture graduate student, helped with graphic design and modeled the group’s submission, he said.
DeKrey said he encouraged the other members to submit their idea.
The group worked together for three months, but spent eight weeks coming up with an idea, he said. They met two to three hours a week, to create their idea.
The students came from different backgrounds, which helped bring many perspectives while they were creating their submission, he said.
“It was always a collaborative effort,” DeKrey said.
India Brooks, a team member and architecture graduate student, said at times, the group members disagreed, but they would vote and discuss other ideas until they came to an agreement.
“Four heads are better than one,” the 48-year-old said.
The team wanted the design to be inspiring to the small communities that could be seeing their idea, Brooks said. They wanted their idea to combine Disney’s past by using characters such as Mickey Mouse, but also bring new elements, such as their new character.
Mark Witko, manager of external communications for Walt Disney Imagineering, said the competition is highly competitive. Designers need to display creative thought in order to make it as far at UF’s team has.
Disney uses the competition as a way to find potential creative designers, or Imagineers, for future Disney attractions, he said. While he wasn’t a judge himself, Witko said all of the ideas he has seen were creative and inspiring.
“It’s a great place to showcase their work and find the next crop of imagineers,” Witko said. “Many people go on to work as Imagineers at Disney.”
