Skating toward Success: LCCC Students with Disney On Ice

The communication major to professional figure skater pipeline is not a common one, but for two prior LCCC students, their coursework has benefitted their careers in ways they never expected. Grace Moyer and Mariko Heimbach both found their ways to LCCC while pursuing their dreams. Their paths crossed while performing for Disney On Ice through Feld Entertainment, a live show that travels the world and brings Disney characters to life.

Moyer’s figure skating journey began when she was six years old. “I did a lot of other sports growing up,” she says, “but I always came back to skating.” After graduating high school, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do outside of skating. She started at LCCC as a TV/film major, but was eventually drawn to communication. “I did an internal communication course and realized that I really like writing.”

The concepts Moyer learned from her communication coursework have helped her in handling the public relations aspect of working with Disney On Ice. “We do a lot of interviews for the show,” she says. “The presentations I’ve done in school have helped me a lot for interviews because now a camera in my face with a bunch of lights doesn’t scare me.”

Disney On Ice has taken Moyer across the globe to places like Singapore, Thailand, London and more. In reflecting on how far she’s come from trying on her first pair of skates at six years old, she’s grateful for the way her career has developed. “Luckily, skating is one of those sports where, once you’re done competing, there are still opportunities afterwards,” she says. Getting to do what she loves and get paid for it is, “a very freeing and very good feeling.”

Heimbach shares similar sentiments about spending nearly 14 years with Feld Entertainment. “It had always been a dream of mine to perform and be in front of people,” she says, “so it was the perfect job for me.” After growing up in and graduating high school in Tokyo, Japan, Heimbach knew she wasn’t finished with skating. She signed on with Feld Entertainment and became the face of Disney On Ice in Japan. “They offered me the position to host and be on live mic for tours that traveled Japan to narrate people through the show. That became such a huge success that they started incorporating that into the shows in America and Europe.”

When COVID-19 put everything on hold for the show, Heimbach decided to attend LCCC to earn communication credits. Her coursework provided an opportunity to learn more about what she already loved to do: present, connect with others and learn new ways to interact with others. Now, as a figure skating instructor with U.S. Figure Skating in New Jersey, she’s able to further develop those skills. “Communicating with kids and parents is a totally different thing that LCCC helped me learn,” she says. “I definitely miss performing, but it’s been a very rewarding journey these past couple years.”

Moyer is still traveling with Disney On Ice, but she remembers her time at LCCC being filled with many good memories and opportunities. One such experience was being an editor for The Paw Print, LCCC’s student newspaper. “That was a really good experience for me,” she says, “because I always wanted to be part of something like that.” Learning Adobe InDesign through The Paw Print proved especially helpful when the time came to transfer to a bachelor’s degree program.

After earning her A.A. in Communication, Moyer found her way to Penn State Lehigh Valley to major in corporate communication. “I did a lot of writing for them as well,” she says. “Crisis Communication was a class I remember the most. I’ve always found it interesting how a brand can have a disaster, but still find ways to make it right after the fact.”

Both Moyer and Heimbach found a means to further their careers in figure skating through LCCC, and they hope every future LCCC student can do the same.

For more information on the Communication Program, visit https://www.lccc.edu/academics/programs/communication-a-a-cmma/.