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http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/06/25/news/coastal/carlsbad/z83b3b16f6486d1d8882575e10008e1e2.txt
CARLSBAD: Legoland hires nine star builders
Five declared "masters," while four gain associate positions at the amusement
park
BY BARBARA HENRY - bhenry@nctimes.com | Thursday, June 25, 2009 8:51 PM PDT
CARLSBAD ---- A Carlsbad teenager who vowed that he hadn't picked up a little
plastic building block in eight years wowed the judges during a two-day
competition to select new master builders at the Legoland California amusement
park.
Eighteen-year-old Samuel Swiger --- the youngest of the competitors ---- walked
away Thursday afternoon with a $10-an-hour, full-time job as his prize. He was
one of four people selected for entry-level, or "associate" builder, jobs at
Legoland.
"I didn't want to make a normal thing," Swiger said as he told the judges why he
had built a three-dimensional recreation of an Egyptian god during the final two
hours of the competition.
Five other people, including a man from Indiana who has a Web site showcasing
his latest plastic Lego building block creations, won full-time jobs as "master
builders" with a pay that starts at $12 to $15 an hour, Legoland park
spokeswoman Beth Downing said.
The new master builders will create large, specialty pieces for a new Legoland
amusement park that's scheduled to open in Malaysia in 2013. The new associate
builders will copy existing Lego designs and do gluing work, among other things,
Downing said.
The park received about 150 applications for the jobs, and narrowed that to 18
finalists by Thursday morning.
The troubled state of the nation's economy was clearly on some applicants'
minds. Several of the finalists, including a man who had worked on a robotics
project, said they were unemployed and looking for work.
Successful Legoland applicants had to do all the typical job interview stuff,
plus they had to demonstrate their ability to build things with tiny plastic
bricks under pressure. Their final event was a timed, two-hour competition in
front of the judges, the news media, and dozens of Legoland visitors.
After the final whistle sounded, Carlsbad resident Erik Vanderhagen looked a
little relieved.
"I didn't expect this," he said, adding that he had expected a simple job
interview when he filled out his application. "Even if I don't get the job, this
has been a lot of fun."
Vanderhagen, who built a dancing crocodile in the final timed competition,
didn't win a job, but a personal trainer from Seattle who flew down for the
competition did.
"I love building Legos and I thought I had a chance," said Joel Baker of Seattle
as he waited for the final results.
Meanwhile, fellow master builder job winner Mark Larson of Indiana was already
collecting fans. Several Legoland visitors wrote down his Web site address,
saying they wanted to view his other creations.
There are 24 Legoland model builders, and 10 of them work at the Carlsbad park,
Legoland officials said. This is the first competitive hiring of master builders
at the park in several years, Downing said.
"It's just something we do whenever we need builders," she said.
The new master builders are: Joel Baker of Seattle; Brian Heins of Poway; Amanda
Jouan of Chula Vista; Mark Larson of Beverly Shores, Ind.; and Ryan Wood of
Gardena.
The new associate builders are: Dana Bradsema of San Diego; Eric Christie of
Hemet; Bryan Decker of San Diego; and Samuel Swiger of Carlsbad.
--
Congratulations to all!
Bill
(TooMuchDew)
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In lugnet.mediawatch, William Toenjes wrote:
> http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/06/25/news/coastal/carlsbad/z83b3b16f6486d1d8882575e10008e1e2.txt
>
> CARLSBAD: Legoland hires nine star builders
>
> snip<
at least 4 are known to the AFOL community...
Joel Baker of Seattle, WA (SEALUG)
http://www.flickr.com/people/legojbaker/
Brian Heins of Poway, CA (SandLUG)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/funkg177/
Mark Larson of Beverly Shores, IN (aka Hinckley, Eurobricks admin)
http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/
http://brickzone.net/
http://brickartisan.com/index.shtml
Ryan Wood of Gardena, CA (LUGOLA, SandLUG, ChiefLUG, FBTB.NET)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lights/
sorry, I don't know #5 Amanda Jouan of Chula Vista, CA
Congratulations again!
--
Bill
(TooMuchDew)
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In lugnet.general, William Toenjes wrote:
> In lugnet.mediawatch, William Toenjes wrote:
> > http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/06/25/news/coastal/carlsbad/z83b3b16f6486d1d8882575e10008e1e2.txt
> >
> > CARLSBAD: Legoland hires nine star builders
> >
> > snip<
Followup story at San Diego News Network
http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-06-26/lifestyle/nine-lego-lovers-get-dream-job-offers
Nine Lego lovers get dream job offers
By Joseph Peña, SDNN
Friday, June 26, 2009 11:48 a.m.
Some things - like a favorite toy - resonate with you long after your childhood.
“Legos are the best toy to play with,” said Bryan Decker, a 35-year-old single
dad who lives in Ocean Beach with his 6-year-old son, Chandler. “You never lose
interest in them. They never lose value.”
The colorful building bricks became a bit more valuable to Decker and eight
other Lego lovers Thursday, when they were hand-picked to work for Legoland
California.
Ryan Wood, Amanda Jouan, Brian Heins, Joel Baker and Mark Larson were offered
jobs as model builders to assist with the park’s planned expansion. Decker,
Samuel Swiger, Eric Christie and Dana Bradsema were offered associates jobs in
the park’s model-building warehouse, too.
The associate positions were a surprise to the 18 contestants, who wrangled
through a series of challenges and a final, creative build-off for six
model-building jobs. In the end, the park offered five people full-time jobs as
model builders, and four people jobs as associates, a credit to the talent at
the two-day showcase, park officials said.
Model builders work on the Lego creations - like Miniland replicas of Las Vegas
and San Francisco, the park’s famed Lego recreation of President Barack Obama’s
inauguration, and various colorful characters scattered throughout the park -
that are featured in Legoland California. The park has plans to open new
Discovery Centre locations in Chicago and New Jersey and a Legoland theme park
in Malaysia.
“I saw the models and said, ‘Who gets to do this? Whose job is it to build these
things out of Legos? Do they get as many Legos as they want?’” Decker said.
“And, my last question was, ‘Do they get paid to do this?’”
Like Decker and Swiger, an 18-year-old recent Carlsbad High grad, many of the
contestants never grew out of the popular toy.
Erik Vanderhagen of Carlsbad works on a Lego creation during Thursday's
build-off in Legoland California's model-builder search.
“I didn’t grow out of them, I just never had the opportunity to revisit them and
play with them,” Swiger said.
More than 20 contestants applied and participated in three, hour-long challenges
Wednesday for the coveted job. They were required to replicate a Lego seahorse,
they worked on a team-build project to create a large scale Lego man, and they
were given an hour to build a model of their choice.
The 18 contestants who qualified to Thursday’s competition were given two hours
to build a model that would fit the theme of the park’s new attraction, Dune
Raiders.
Jouan, a 26-year-old Chula Vista resident and recent UCSD grad, had to revisit
the concept for Thursday’s creative build, when she realized a model outside the
Dune Raiders ride too-closely resembled her plan to build a snake charmer.
She tweaked her design a bit and built a cobra snaked around a sitting Lego man,
who had a look of shock built on his face.
Jouan - who said she was a “Lego nerd” as a kid - qualified for the finals the
last time Legoland held a nationwide search for model builders, but didn’t make
the final cut. She had a strategy on Thursday: take her time, complete a model,
and have fun.
It paid off for the visual arts grad - she left the park with a job offer.
“Into the work world I go,” she said. “This is the perfect outlet for me.”
Wood, who traveled from Los Angeles for the two-day competition, said he’ll have
to consider whether he’ll take the model-building job he was offered. The
25-year-old married father of one, who graduated from Cal State Dominguez Hills
with a degree in digital media arts, has been struggling to find a job in
television production. His wife, though, would have to leave her job as a
paralegal and Wood isn’t sure it’s the wisest choice for his family.
He said he’s sent more than 50 resumes out during the last month and the job
hunt has been frustrating.
“It’s exhilarating to get this offer,” he said.
Pay was the only lingering question for the contestants, who weren’t sure what
to expect in terms of salary. The pay for associate builders is $10 an hour, and
pay for model builders is $12-15 an hour. Wood said it would factor into his
decision, Jouan said any source of income is better than no source of income,
and Decker said he’ll do whatever it takes to make it work for he and his son.
“He’s the most important thing in the world to me,” he said. “If I can take care
of us financially, I’ll eat ramen if I have to.”
--
Bill
(TooMuchDew)
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Thanks for linking :)
Joey, as he named himself when he interviewed me, got everything exactly right.
He is far and away the superior journalist to Jeff Zevely of CBS8 news, who
misrepresented and misquoted more than one candidate.
.In lugnet.general, William Toenjes wrote:
> In lugnet.general, William Toenjes wrote:
> > In lugnet.mediawatch, William Toenjes wrote:
> > > http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/06/25/news/coastal/carlsbad/z83b3b16f6486d1d8882575e10008e1e2.txt
> > >
> > > CARLSBAD: Legoland hires nine star builders
> > >
> > > snip<
>
> Followup story at San Diego News Network
>
> http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-06-26/lifestyle/nine-lego-lovers-get-dream-job-offers
>
> Nine Lego lovers get dream job offers
>
> By Joseph Peña, SDNN
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In lugnet.general, Ryan Wood wrote:
> Thanks for linking :)
> Joey, as he named himself when he interviewed me, got everything exactly right.
> He is far and away the superior journalist to Jeff Zevely of CBS8 news, who
> misrepresented and misquoted more than one candidate.
>
> snip<
Yeah, I kinda sensed yours and Adam's displeasure regarding his hack journalism
skills in the comments with his Flickr photo ;)
--
Bill
(ToomuchDew)
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Sorry to reply to myself, just thought I would mention that right after that
interview I was led away to secret quarters where the official job offer was
made. There was no hesitation: I accepted. :)
In lugnet.general, Ryan Wood wrote:
> Thanks for linking :)
> Joey, as he named himself when he interviewed me, got everything exactly right.
> He is far and away the superior journalist to Jeff Zevely of CBS8 news, who
> misrepresented and misquoted more than one candidate.
>
> .In lugnet.general, William Toenjes wrote:
> > In lugnet.general, William Toenjes wrote:
> > > In lugnet.mediawatch, William Toenjes wrote:
> > > > http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/06/25/news/coastal/carlsbad/z83b3b16f6486d1d8882575e10008e1e2.txt
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They are in for a surprise of a lifetime!
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Actually my brickshelf id is Lynxavr and Blockparadise. I am slowly reorganizing
and separating the company stuff from my personal stuff, but lynxavr is probably
me on most sites.
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