A Ball State University student took first place in the Walt Disney Imagi-Nations competition held in Glendale, Calif.
Richard Terpstra, a senior fine arts student, has spent the last year designing "Oogie's Revenge: The Ride," a themed area and attraction that is based on the 1993 Disney and Tim Burton film "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
Imagi-Nations is a university design competition created and sponsored by Walt Disney Imagineering with the aim of promoting diversity. The competition enables students to showcase their technical, artistic and creative writing skills by designing a ride, attraction, hotel, resort or themed restaurant, and it gives them the opportunity to earn scholarship money. According to the Disney Imagi-Nations Web site, many past winners have also earned internships with Walt Disney Imagineering, and some have become full-time imagineers.
Imagineer -- a combination of imagination and engineer -- is a word created by the Walt Disney Corp. to describe the individuals responsible for the creation of all Disney resorts, theme parks, attractions and entertainment venues.
Terpstra was awarded first place by a panel of judges, who are also Disney Imagineers, at a banquet on June 15 in Glendale, Calif.
"Taking first place was surreal," Terpstra said. "The competition is about understanding Walt Disney's visions. It's all about telling a story. When you ride a Disney ride, you are being taken to another place."?
Terpstra started designing "Oogie's Revenge: The Ride" in the summer of 2004. He said that his ride uses the characters from "The Nightmare Before Christmas"; however, the story behind the ride is like a short sequel to the movie.
Terpstra presented his design in a large brochure. Page by page, the brochure unravels, telling the story behind the ride and eventually opening into a 2-by-3 foot graphic of what the ride will look like.?
Terpstra said that he has always dreamed of working for the Walt Disney Corp., and he believes his love for Disney is due to the fact that he and his family have visited Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., almost every year since he was born.
Terpstra hopes to land an internship with the corporation after he graduates from Ball State.?
"Winning this competition helps put your name at the top of the list when it comes to getting an internship at Disney," he said. "You can be the best writer, designer or artist in the world; however, above everything else, you have to have a love for Disney."
Walt Disney Imagineering is the master planning, creative development, design, engineering, production, project management and research subsidiary of the Walt Disney Corp.
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