Friday, Day 6

I'm terribly sad to say that my time in California has come to an end. It was probably the most life-changing week that I've ever lived and I'll be putting all the knowledge I received to the best possible use I know how.

We ended our week by visiting Disney Studios and having lunch with Victoria Alonso, who currently holds the title as VP of Visual Effects at Marvel Studios. She was born in Argentina with virtually nothing and worked her way to the United States and now she has it all.

I took a full 2 pages of notes on what she had to say because she was throwing advice out constantly. At the end when she started talking about how we're worth it, I got a little emotional. It was just inspiring to see such a powerful and funny woman take the time to talk to us.

Immediately after lunch, we were bussed back to our hotel where we had minimal time to prepare for our big debut. I, personally am working on confidence in who I am and how I look so I chose to wear my glasses (which shouldn't be a big deal). We got to spend some time in the basement of the El Capitan getting our hair and make-up done.

As we were all hanging out in the green room, Barbra Guthrie was kind enough to get us bags of candy to snack on. We were just casually eating popcorn and candy, when Jamie Alexander walks into the room and I'm pretty sure there was an audible gasp. She sat with us and we chatted more about growing up and being confident in who you are.

At one point, Jamie, Victoria, and the great-great nephew of Walt Disney were all in the same room with us. It was a little crazy with all these high powered people surrounding us, but I always felt right at home.

Soon it was time to go on stage and Lilia led us up to the stage where there was a lot of last minute bathroom breaks and panic. We somehow managed to coordinate ourselves into the line-ups we had rehearsed and soon we were on stage in front of a crowd of 1,000 people.

The biggest surprise at the end was the gifts of $1000 donated by UL and a new Kindle HD fire given to us by Dolby Laboratories. The donations are expected to be used in helping us with the Ultimate Mentor Adventure Leadership Council which was created with us as the initial batch of girls.

Oh course we got to view Thor:The Dark World again, and at one point I glanced around and a good majority were snoozing away just from the exhaustion of all the excitement.

The night didn't end there though. We still had our Highland Park gift cards that needed spending, so we grabbed a quick dinner and hit up as many stores as we could. Of course the largest candy store in the world was my favorite, with all its sugary goodness.

The final event of the night was winding down with some girl time up in Sarah's room. We ordered some room service (Thanks Barbra) and all huddled around to let our feelings out. Most of the girls stayed until 11:30, but Sydney and I stuck around until 12:30 against our parents wishes.

It was hard to say good bye to Sarah, but I'm certain that won't be the last I see of her. This also won't be the final entry you hear from me

This whole crazy, amazing, not-enough-words-to-describe-how-I-feel-about-it week is truly a blessing. The women I met and the experiences I gained are life skills that many people are jealous they couldn't have. Walking away I have a better understanding of how the world works and I'm already looking toward my future and what it holds. All I have to say is thank you so much to the wonderful people that helped me get to where I am today.

Thursday, Day 5

Today was a day full of secrets. There were lots of backstage and  behind the scenes tours where the public is never allowed. Seeing Disney Land and a Marvel sound stage could easily be described as epic.

We began the day with a tour of Disney Land. The special part of this tour was that we were in the park before it had opened so we got to see all the workers doing maintenance. In addition, there were  different people that we stopped and talked to along the way.

All of these people were incredible. We learned about roller coaster operating systems, steam engines, firework shows, painting maintenance at Disney, and the hydraulics system of a ride.

We were chauffeured around in golf carts and got to see the entire back side of Disney Land. I can tell you one thing for sure - the backside is nowhere near as magical as the park itself, but boy is it huge.

There were departments for anything you can imagine and it was actually kind of crazy seeing all that goes into the upkeep of it. At the end of the tour we got to finish with a Thor exhibit and "travel" to Asgard and meet the character Thor.Although this guy had a glue on mustache and wasn't Chris Hemsworth, he came pretty darn close.

Our tour ended on a sad yet happy note with our tour guide getting a little teary eyed. Here we had just met the man 3 hours prior and he was emotional. I couldn't believe that he really thought that much of us and it was inspiring for sure.

We then made a some-what quick pit stop at a restaurant in down-town Disney. It was one of the more high end places, and for once it wasn't a buffet. The coolest part of lunch was that we got to speak with a lot of the same people that we had talked to at UL again.

Lilia was again pushing us for time and we got a 5-minute warning to scarf down our food before we headed off again, but this time for backstage at Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Everyone had been telling us how big of a deal this was from the second we knew it was happening and after visiting the site I understood why. It was the whole set for everything that goes into filming for the show and we also talked to a lot of the people that help contribute to making the show what it is.

We first got to see a little bit of the set inside the actual airplane and talk to one of the cast members about how she got to where she is and what it's like to live the life she does. We were also introduced to one of the creators of the show which was pretty surreal.

Next we headed on over to design and talked to the lead guy in charge of all the set and intricate prop designs. He had a clear dedication for his job that was cool to see. That was pretty similar to the passion I saw in the post-production area, where people actually put all the film together and add the CG animations. We even got a little preview into upcoming episodes.

Traveling back to the conference room meant we got the chance to talk to the producer of the show and asked him a non-stop flow of questions that you would expect from a group of curious girls. My contacts were extremely dry by this point and although that may not matter to tell you, it was driving me insane at the time.

We finished off by getting to explore the rest of the plane and being visited by another cast member, Chloe Bennet. She was extremely comfortable around all us 10 girls and I was surprised how she was never overwhelmed.

After a some-what long bus ride back to the hotel full of girl talk (That seemed to be a common theme for us today) we got to find a place to eat some grub and then get the chance to use our gift cards to purchase whatever our little hearts desired. I personally chose a World of Color blanket among other things and I'm quite proud of my new blanket.

Tomorrow is the day our documentary short premiers and we no longer have a jam-packed schedule. What the actual heck, where has the time gone? I can't even fathom that my journey is coming to an end and I kind of forgot how to live in the real world. Okay, MUST SLEEP. More tomorrow,

Andrea Polis

None of me? There's a reason for that!

Wednesday, Day 4

Surprise, another FABULOUS day out here. Yet again another early rise with the addition of having to pack up all of our belongings to bring to our next hotel, The Grand California, but I'll get to that later.

We had some difficulties figuring out the suitcase situation, but eventually left for Underwriters Laboratories. We met the VP of education - Barb Guthrie. She was full of energy and incredibly excited for us to be there. Not going to lie, my first impression was “What the heck, this is an office.” I soon learned that the building was much more than that and also has an entire lab behind it. It felt very similar to my wood shop class as a freshman.

We were each given our own adorable, personalized, construction hats. Although we didn't really need them, it was fun. After a little tour around the building we were directed outside to the parking lot.

Waiting for us in the parking lot were 3 different fire trucks from several California counties.  They had separate stations set up for us to experience different things that a fireman might encounter. At one, we learned about hazardous chemicals and got to climb up into a fire truck to see how it's really done.

In another, we were told how the technical stuff worked behind the trucks, especially concerning the ladder trucks.  In the last station we got to experience what it was like to put out a simulated fire. UL had gone to the trouble of purchasing fire resistant suits so that we could experience what its like to put out a real fire. All the firefighters were incredibly nice and funny.

We then proceeded into the lab where we were show some of the actual tests that the lab techs do on a day-to-day basis. Some of these tests included Hail Damage Test, Hair Suction, Rain water, Impact, and Microwave test to name a few.

It was so weird to see that the things they do to test safety are normal things that would be done to the product anyway. I could totally picture myself working there and having a ton of fun.

Lunch was fabulous. Though not as good as Tender Greens, we did get a feast of mass proportions followed by 4 different cake options for dessert. The coolest part of lunch though wasn't the food, it was the people we talked to.

The whole time we were eating we had a panel of lovely individuals in front of us, one of them was my mentor, Sarah Escosa! I had already talked to her a little bit earlier in the day and we took some cute little pictures together, but I got the chance to listen to her and a bunch of other amazing women talk about what they do and how they ended up where they are today.

After UL we still had the Discovery Science center to visit. This place was basically a California version of the Science museum, but on a smaller scale. It really was cool though, especially this grocery game where you went and had to scan the most “green” items, and the whole thing was really incredible.

We then had another panel of fabulous women to talk to and learn from. I feel like I’m getting a life cheat by getting the chance to learn about the life experience of these women in addition to excellent advice that will help guide me. I really hope that there are girls back home that would be interested in hearing about this because the world is so much bigger than you think and until you get out and experience it you don’t really realize it.

There's more I could write about, but I'm not attempting to make a novel here and I'm sure there are things you have that need doing so this is where I'll end it for now, thanks for reading!

Andrea Polis

Tuesday, Day 3

Well, yet another amazing day out here in California. Of course, we were up with the sun, this time to experience a day of agriculture and Disney!

I began our day bright and early with an alarm piercing my ears at 5:30 am. I again ate one of our “breakfast packs” that we had received the night before.

By 6:30 we were on a bus and on our way to Scarborough Farms, a farming company that grows greens and herbs. While we were there, we saw their processing plant, a typical field and hoop sheds where they grow the smaller herbs. The cool part was that just last week I was watching How It's Made: Salad and then actually getting to see it was crazy!

The whole tour was led by a fragile looking woman by the name of Ann Stein.  She turned out to be anything but fragile and told us her entire business story and how she went to college to become something totally different, but ended up becoming an entrepreneur.

Next, we headed over to a small urban farm by the name of Silver Lake Farms. This “farm” was literally the back yard of a woman named Tara Kolla who wanted to find a niche in the community and make a living by growing. She found that the locals didn't have ready access to locally grown flowers and has built a successful company based on this need.

Our last stop in the agriculture industry was a restaurant called Tender Greens. They are a self-sustainable restaurant chain and we had the privilege of being treated to a feast of their finest dishes. It was probably some of the best food I’ve ever had…ever. We also had a nice chat with a few of the architects that help Tender Green stores from concept to opening.

Hard to imagine we’re only half way done with the day at this point, but we still had a full 3 hours to play around at Disney Land. We pretty much had free roam of both parks and spent our time riding as many attractions as we could. We spent time on Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, Soar’n, California Screamer, and Star Tours. All of which were incredibly detailed in which you felt like you were almost on the ride while you were just waiting in line.

By the end of our short time my head was spinning a bit and I forced myself to eat some salad. (Of course this salad was nowhere near as crisp as the greens I’d had directly from the ground.) As a group we headed out to get a rare glimpse behind the scenes of the Disney show “World of Color”. 

  To sum it up, the creation of the production is an incredibly intricate process that involves a lot of programming and many computers and a room full of generators. You don’t really think about how much time and money goes into one experience that you see, but they work around the clock to do the show and without their team of around 60 people, it wouldn't be possible.

We ended the night actually getting to see World of color in all its glory and now we are headed home to our lovely soft beds that I’m sure are just anxiously awaiting us. Until tomorrow,

Andrea Polis

Monday, Day 2

Even though I'm beyond exhausted right now, I would regret not keeping up with this blog.

We started off the day at the Wildlife Learning Center. We talked to a woman by the name of Brittany Whitlow who pretty much runs the show there. They only have about 130 animals (much less than a typical zoo), most being reptiles, but it was amazing what they do there. They educate kids and bring animals to schools to talk to people about them.

They were located right in the middle of this neighborhood which was kind of strange and very cool. We got to measure out the correct amounts of food for a bunch of different animals. We then got to make some enrichment opportunities for them as well.We basically just put a bunch of twigs and branches into a big tub and sprayed some almond water on it all for them to explore.

Next we got dirty and cleaned the cages of a couple different species of mammals. We tried to clean a bobcats cage, but the little guy wouldn't cooperate with us.

We ended the day with a couple different animal encounters. From an albino boa constrictor to a desert fox named Buster, to getting to hold Newton, a  little owl. Overall it was an experience that was more than memorable.

Next we headed over to Dolby laboratories where we ate a filing lunch of sandwiches and salad and headed into Dolby's own personal Atmos surround sound. Basically its the newest technology in the sound world where not only are you surrounded by speakers, but the sound can be pin-pointed to a specific speaker which intensifies the feeling.

Dr. Poppy Crum talked about the science behind the things they do at Dolby and how they've discovered that contrary to past hypothesis, the stimulus is not as important as what's actually going on in the brain, and reacting to it.

After a free gift bag and of course a few pictures we headed back to the hotel where we were handed dinner on our way up the get ready for the premier! I got as dolled up as I could with what limited supplies I brought, but I think I pulled it off.

Many of the other girls were completely freaking out. My excitement wasn't as extreme, more just incredibly intreseted to see them in person, walking, talking and breathing like any other human.

We saw a huge range of celebrities, and I'll try to list as many as I can remember. The Hemsworth Brothers, Anthony Hopkins (I told him I loved him in Silence of the lambs), Zachary Levi (Gave me the smolder), Thomas Hiddleston (Incredibly Nice), Micheal Rooker, Stan Lee (Incredibly funny), Debby Ryan, Bradly Perry, Zachary Abel and probably more that I'm forgetting.

We finished off the night sitting behind some ABC stars and watching the Thor movie. We'll be seeing it in  Dolby Atmos on Friday along with our documentary short. I'm so excited! But I'm also drained, so until tomorrow, Thor Rules!

Sunday, Day 1

WE MADE IT! Dad and I are currently de-compressing from and hour long talk about anything and everything we'll be doing this week. Wow is all I have to say.

People would kill for the kinds of things were going to be doing this week. Tomorrow were going to the RED CARPET premeire of the new Thor movie! We're actually getting the chance to meet the cast. The poor parents aren't allowed near it however and have to watch from across the street.

One thig I've noticed is the security for some of these activities is going to be very extreme. For the Dolby laboratory and behind the scenes at Disney land we can only bring ourselves and the clothes on our back. We'll be seeing behind the scenes in places that the public is never allowed. In fact, well be touring the sound stage for Marvel agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and its so secretive that they have special programs where the company can only see it for an hour before its deleted.


The ride here was absolutely fantastic! We met up with our driver George and we so happened to get the stretch limo! He also gave us the special privilege of complimentary drinks that are usually reserved for limo renters. I felt like a celebrity driving through the streets of LA.

Every night we get a little "breakfast pack" for the next morning that has some goodies to eat the next day. We also got a pack of free stuff including Thor T-shirts, mugs, Thor soundtrack, backpack, and disney journal. Not to mention the gift cards we recieved for shops in this area along with subway and Starbucks gift cards.

This is all so much to handle its kind of a dream. I'll be journaling questions and things I learn throughout the day so I can hopefully blog about them that night! Until tomorrow, night!

Day Before

Well now I've entered the packing stage of my trip. I think I'm going a little overboard with the amount of clothes I'm bringing, but better to be over prepared than under.

I also decided it was about time to re-watch the Thor. I would feel a bit pathetic if I failed to understand the story line of the whole movie. I have hopes that I may get the chance to meet the stars of the movie, but that's just a small hope and one that I don't really expect to come true.

Just thinking about what I'll be doing the next 6 days gets my heart pumping! I am crossing my fingers that the weather is nice and we get to spend some time outside.

I have a feeling that with how many activities we have planned that I'm going to fall asleep as my face hits the pillow each night.

I AM SO EXCITED! That's all for now :)