Welcome back, Mikey Perry!
This year's Alumni Graduation speaker, Mikey Perry, Class of 2009, stopped by CSW yesterday to meet our seniors, tour the building, and catch up with teachers. We look forward to his speech on Saturday.
In 2009, Mikey was the Class President and took center stage at the DuPont Theatre for the Welcome Address at graduation.
Mikey is a creative technologist who combines his passions for storytelling, technology, and teamwork as a product manager at The Walt Disney Company. He works alongside software engineers, user experience designers, data analysts, and business leaders to build digital products, including Disney+ and Hulu, which are beloved by hundreds of millions of people around the world.
Mikey discovered his joy for blending the arts and sciences while attending The Charter School of Wilmington. His coursework ranged from Introduction to Acting (offered through Cab Calloway School of the Arts) and Shakespeare to AP Calculus AB/BC and AP Chemistry. Beyond the classroom, he was the president of the Senior Council, a producer of the weekly comedy skit video “10 Minutes” (pre-YouTube era), a captain of the baseball team, a member of the mock trial club that placed third in the 2008 national competition, a finalist in the New Castle County science fair, and a lead performer in CCSA’s rendition of High School Musical.
Following high school, Mikey double-majored in mechanical engineering and filmmaking at Virginia Tech. He ultimately dropped mechanical engineering to graduate in 2012 with a BA in Cinema Studies & Production. While working at the digital media lab on campus, Mikey enjoyed assisting others produce and upload videos for online distribution. This helped him land a customer support job at Vimeo, a streaming startup and pioneer in New York City. Mikey paired his early professional experience with part-time academia, earning an MBA specializing in Entertainment, Media, & Technology from New York University. He became a product manager in 2017 and joined The Walt Disney Company in 2019 to help launch Disney+. Today, he leads the development of the streaming platform that powers Disney+ and Hulu.
In 2017, Mikey reconnected with the love of his life, Lauren, who had taken him to the 2007 CSW prom a decade earlier at Mrs. Mauricette Benzing’s serendipitous suggestion. Mauricette (as they refer to her now) helped Mikey and Lauren keep in touch over the years, officiated their wedding, and remains one of their closest friends. Mikey and Lauren live in West Chester, Pennsylvania, with their boys, Everett and Owen, and their dog, Irving.