Macon native fulfills dream of visiting Pixar Studios

As a kid, Jorey Collins got picked on because he liked to sit in the corner and draw. But he didn’t let that keep him from honing his talent.

That dedication paid off this year, when the 2015 Central High graduate was invited to visit Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California. Now, he wants to get a summer internship there.

Collins is a junior at Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he’s an applied physics major. He plans to transfer schools to earn his engineering degree and study architecture, with hopes of one day owning his own architecture firm.

Collins said it was during art class at Central that he first started thinking about a career in architecture. His interest in working with Pixar was sparked after reading books by Steve Jobs, a former CEO of Pixar, and Bill Gates that his dad gave him.

“Pixar, it’s kind of embedded in me because I was always a Disney fanatic as a kid,” Collins said.

During a Pixar workshop at Morehouse in February, Collins was able to meet the company’s senior supervisor of animation. The supervisor asked Collins to send him some sketches, liked his architectural drawings and invited him to visit Pixar Studios. Collins got an all-access tour of Pixar’s campus in July, and he was able to return in October and bring his sister with him.

“This was a place that I honestly didn’t think I’d ever be able to see,” Collins said. “I could feel the innovation and just the creativity on the campus, ... so many ideas, so many different perspectives. I was speechless when I walked in, because this was a place I had always dreamed of visiting and potentially coming to work at.”

In December, Collins plans to apply for a summer internship at Pixar.

This story was originally published November 22, 2017 at 12:07 PM with the headline "Macon native fulfills dream of visiting Pixar Studios."