La Salle class eyes Disney touch
Advanced Marketing students to participate in leadership strategies program at Disney World beginning Thursday
TROY, N.Y. » A class of senior La Salle Advanced Marketing students will head to Florida on Thursday to take part in the Disney Leadership Strategies program.
The program will be held in the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando as part of the Disney Youth Education Series.
The class will be in Disney for four days, examining the leadership styles and strategies that promote success through the explora- tion of Epcot’s innovative attractions. Epcot opened in 1982, and was the creative vision of Walt Disney.
The park is separated into two main sections, the first is the World Showcase, where guests are able to visit 11 different themed
areas, made to represent different countries. The second is Future World, with innovative attractions featuring advanced technology.
This marks the second year Michael Levy, business department chair for La Salle, will bring his class to Disney for the Leadership Strategies program. Levyhas 27 years of his own business experience, having worked
for Management Recruiters International installing personnel and owning his own firm for 20 years.
He said the program gives students a firsthand view of how Disney markets itself, approaches its customers, and places its products. He believes the program only adds to what the students do throughout the year, working with companies around the world.
“This enhances what they’ve been doing, because they’ve been working with companies around the world on real marketing projects,”
Levy said.
La Salle Institute is the only high school that does real-world marketing. Levy’s Advanced Marketing class works with companies in Israel, Poland, England, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and more within the United States.
In 2016, the class helped to re-brand Excel Aquatics, a company that offers swimming lessons in Albany and Schenectady. Kevin’s Swim School was transformed into Excel Aquatics and a new logo was designed for the company by Advanced Mar-
keting student Phil Proper, who graduated in 2016.
Several of the companies this year’s class has worked with this include: Sunmark Federal Credit Union, Minnie Rose, and Marlborough of England.
Senior SamBrendese said he enjoys Advanced Marketing and the experiences he has been afforded through the class. He said Disney is a big corporation, with continued success.
“Disney begins to influence customers as soon as they step into the park,” Brendese said.
Through the leadership program, he hopes to learn how big corporations such as Disney continue to keep
their reputation and be successful.
The class will be actively identifying key marketing strategies by Disney throughout their trip and will form a PowerPoint of what they discovered to show to the school when they return. Levy said the class has done great work already this year, and the Leadership Program will be valuable experience.
“They are working with companies on projects that matter,” Levy said, “and they’re doing an amazing job.”