Regular Meetings
Meetings are on Thursday evenings at 7:30 pm every week. We have been fortunate enough to host guest speakers from Disney Imagineering as well as from the TEA executive board. Other meeting topics have included career development in the themed entertainment industry led by Ryan Willerton from the Center for Career development at Notre Dame, updates in the industry, and even free time to work on interclub competitions.
Special Meetings — Networking
In February 2019, Tyler Emptage, a Disney Imagineer and Notre Dame grad from 2010, video called into our meeting. The club enjoyed the advice he shared and the opportunity to learn form someone with experience in the industry!
In March 2019, Micahel Mercadante, the President of the TEA International Board of Directors and Notre Dame alum from 1980, and Marissa Blake, Chair of theTEA NextGen Committee, video called with the club and shared their advice on getting more involved with the themed entertainment industry.
In the Fall of 2019, this relationship grew. Mr. Mercadante came to Notre Dame to give a presentation to our members and teach us about his experience in the industry. We learned a lot about different components that go in to making Themed Entertainment possible. It was an fantastic experience.
In the Spring of 2020, TEA@ND also hosted a Notre Dame graduate who now works at TAIT, Dan McGlinn. Dan taught us all about TAIT’s role in the industry, making robust, technologically advanced and frequently portable performance stages. We learned a lot about the company, their opportunities and their goals.
See our Gallery for Photos from these Networking Events.
Our Members’ Work
Escape Room Design Competition
In the Spring of 2019 two of the club’s members, Jacob Plocher and Katelyn Wyatt, entered a competition held by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The competition consisted of designing an escape room with a heavy focus on story line and participant safety. Our team chose to recreate the famed story, “Theseus and the Minotaur.” The participants must solve the labyrinth, defeat the Minotaur, and escape within an hour. Would you be up to the challenge?
Please feel free to view the completed project presentation here.
Disney’s Imaginations Competition
Throughout the 2018-2019 school year, TEA@ND also had a group of people enter Disney’s Imaginations Competition. This annual competition is open to all juniors and seniors in college and has a different prompt each year. This year’s task was to design an experience that explored a Natural or Ancient Wonder of the World. Here is the project that took our team to the semi-finals.
Gardaland
Check out the article that Jacob Plocher, the club’s current President, wrote for Notre Dame’s Scholastic magazine here. Make sure to scroll down to the 3rd article titled “Gardaland”.