Disney Imagination Campus Becomes a STEM Classroom for MESA Scholars
For a group of Moreno Valley College MESA scholars, a Saturday at the Disneyland Resort was not a break from their STEM education. It became one of the most immersive extensions of it. On May 2, MVC MESA students traveled to Disney Imagination Campus at Disney California Adventure Park for the "Physics of Disney" workshop, joining students and faculty from Riverside City College and Norco College for a day of applied science in one of the most imaginative environments on Earth.
Organized by MESA coordinators, including MVC’s Erin Cosgrove, students were divided into teams that rotated through learning stations across the park, explored physics concepts in real time, then prototyped and tested roller coaster designs before pitching their ideas in a final presentation.
For incoming MVC student Justin Settle, one message from the experience stood out. “My favorite moment was when Zander (a Disney Imagination Campus facilitator) said being a Disney Imagineer was about building with your imagination to make ideas come alive,” Settle said. “I often build from my imagination, and people tell me what's not possible. Disney was confirmation for me that it is possible.”
He also left with something he did not expect. “I got to meet new people I will go to school with and I got to experience what MESA is like.”
Another student, Felipe Reyes Sagastume, connected the experience to the collaborative nature of STEM fields.
“Learning more about the physics of how the roller coasters at Disney work gave me a taste of the real-life engineering that happens in the industry and of what awaits me as I move forward in my career,” Reyes Sagastume said. “And the best part is that I got to do it alongside my friends and MESA peers. That sense of community between people from different areas of STEM matters, because each discipline contributes and each perspective is essential.”
Chaperone and MVC counselor Oscar Escobar watched the dynamic shift over the course of the day. “I counsel many of these students, so seeing them outside the classroom and in an experience like this was especially rewarding," Escobar said. "The youngest students were a bit more introverted at first, but by the end of the day they were leading presentations, collaborating, and laughing with each other. The host pushed them to think and express themselves in scientific ways, and it was great to see their confidence grow.”
Experiences like this are part of what MVC MESA strives to provide: opportunities for students to tackle real-world challenges, create solutions, and confidently share their ideas.