This past spring semester I have spent my days working at "The Happiest Place on Earth." I graduated from Albion last May and was hired as an education presenter/advanced intern at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando. This experience has been both incredible and difficult, and it has taught me a lot -- not only about my future career path but also about my personal life.

As an education presenter I worked with the Kid’s Discovery Club, games designed to connect children with the natural world and inspirie conservation actions. The kids pick up a Discovery Club Guide at the park and collect a stamp at each game that they visit. There’s a game in each section of the park: matching animal sounds, identifying items by touch, looking for animal clues, finding backyard animals, learning about insects, and assembling dinosaur bones. It’s a lot of fun playing with kids all day!

In addition to working with Kid's Discovery Club, I present invertebrates to the guests, "interpret" in front of certain animal exhibits, and perform three different scripted microphone presentations in the park. Two of the presentations are skits that two people perform together and the third is an informative script that we recite to the guests in front of a replica of the largest T-Rex skeleton ever found. Every day I am assigned a different presentation, so things are always changing.

"We get to work at a place where people from all over the world come on vacation, and then when we’re done working we can go play in the parks," says Jagusch (right, with fellow interns).  "There’s always something to do and always someone to do it with."

One great part about the internship is the series of seminars that we attend. Each month is a different seminar focused on an area of the animal programs department. I’ve attended seminars on zookeeping, veterinary services, conservation biology, and animal training. We get to talk with high-level employees of the Animal Kingdom and gain a better understanding of what is involved in each different job.

 This internship has been an incredible experience, helping to build my career skills and prepare for a future job in conservation education. I’ll never forget my time here, having fun in the Florida sun, surrounded by the magic of Disney.