Honors Students Back from Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute’s Annual Trip to Disney World
(Emerick, 2025)

Recently, honors students Caroline Emerick and Lily Redmon returned from the annual Excellence in Leadership (ELI) program trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Students involved in the trip were invited to participate in the 2024 GEN:i Cohort under the ELI program from the Entrepreneurship Department in the Miller College of Business. These exceptional student leaders were provided a week-long trip to study the innovation and excellence that comes along with the Walt Disney name. Studying various career paths, differences in markets, governmental involvement, and exposure to excellence, students were able to learn all about the setbacks and opportunities Disney faced in pursuing their entrepreneurial vision.

One of the students, senior Lillie Day studying Psychological Science with a minor in Communication Studies, shared her favorite moment from the trip was the true level of detail Disney puts into every one of their projects.

“Something that stood out to me on our Keys to the Kingdom tour was the amount of thought that went into every detail about Walt Disney World. Walking through Main Street and seeing the thoughtful placement of names all around us was very touching and nothing I would have thought about without going on that tour.”

Much of the experience was an opportunity for students to see how business-focused the Walt Disney company and brand was. With that, came important takeaways that mirror much of what students expect to see in other companies.

“I learned that Disney is like any other business where there will always be issues that can be solved, but they try to do their best with every cast member that works for them,” said Redmon.