Disney strengthens partnership with DSU through conference support

Jarek RutzEducation, Headlines

DSU's D9 Conference over the weekend was sponsored by Disney.

DSU’s D9 Conference over the weekend was sponsored by Disney.

The magic of mentorship is taking center stage at Delaware State University, where The Walt Disney Company continues its three-decade-long effort to create real-world career connections for HBCU students and alumni.

The most recent example of this partnership occurred this past weekend as more than 100 Delaware State University students spent the weekend at the D9 three-day conference focused on networking opportunities, the history and purpose of Greek life organizations, leadership development, and more.

The D9 Conference was sponsored by The Walt Disney Company, which paid for the event and has partnered with the state’s only HBCU for about three decades. 

“We work with them on internship opportunities for our students in their summer programs across all lines of business,” said Terry Bankston, executive director of the Office of Career Services. 

That includes a wide umbrella of networks, like ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Marvel Pictures, and Disney+.

Terry Bankston

Terry Bankston

“Disney has such a wide range of training opportunities within their company, so we’re starting now to do some things where they bring some of their training operations here to the university to work with our students just to get them prepared for the workforce, even if they don’t choose Disney as their career opportunity of choice,” Bankston said. 

The D9 (Divine) Conference included members of nine sororities and fraternities: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority; Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity; Omega Psi Phi Fraternity; Delta Sigma Theta Sorority; Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity; Zeta Phi Beta Sorority; Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority; and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity.

Participants explored the mission of each Greek organization with the goal of learning and appreciating the history of each. 

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In a feedback survey, students said the conference helped build leadership confidence, showed them how to better support each other at events and community service engagements, and taught them how to better enhance their relationships with one another, according to Alexxis Sanchious, internship coordinator in the Office of Career Services at DSU.

Students also connected with leaders of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, a collaborative umbrella council composed of historically African American fraternities and sororities known as the Divine Nine.

Another successful element of the partnership has been Disney on the Yard, which started three years ago. 

The initiative builds a community and network for HBCU students and alumni working across Disney while providing meaningful community opportunities for those involved. 

Out of the 107 students involved in the internship program’s first year, DSU had 27 students attend, the highest mark of any HBCU in the country. 

“Over the last three years, we’ve averaged about 19 students in the program,” Bankston said. “This past summer, we were able to place four or five students in their college program, which was for students who had just graduated from the university.

That program involves rotational operations and lands students full-time jobs with Disney. 

Zaire Davis

Zaire Davis

He and Sanchious highlighted one student in the program, Zaire Davis, who graduated from DSU in 2021 with a degree in mass communications & theater and is now a writer on Disney Channel’s “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.”

“That’s a pretty big deal for her, to go from an intern and an entry-level position up through the ranks and now to be part of the team that does the writing for the show,” Bankston said. 

Efforts to reach Davis were unsuccessful.

The D9 Conference comes on the heels of scholarship data coming in from the summer’s HBCU Week.

RELATED: 8th annual HBCU Week starts in Wilmington Sunday

DSU admitted 227 students, offered 168 students the State’s full-tuition INSPIRE Scholarship totaling $1,493,250, offered two students the full-ride Presidential Scholarship totaling $176,000 over four years, and offered one student full tuition totaling $36,200 over four years during the week. 

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