One 2016 Eastern Oregon University graduate has been conquering the high seas on board the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines in the technical stage staff.

Rachel Bentz, of John Day, said she attended a conference in March for theater technicians and the technical fields — something she was interested in after working as the stage manager and McKenzie Theatre technician at the university.

“Royal Carribean was one of the companies recruiting at the conference,” Bentz said in an email. “I said hello, asked a few questions about working for the company, gave them my resume and attended a session they held about working on ships. I smiled and was concise in my questions and answers, and showed interest. A few days later they e-mailed me and asked me for an interview, and the rest is history.”

Bentz started her position on the cruise line in July. She has traveled to Shanghai more than 10 times since then. It hasn’t been easy, but she’s starting to get the hang of it.

“I have to say that the first month was the worst,” she said. “Between training and learning the position and long days and nights full of drills, long hours and working with people who only speak Mandarin, it was an experience.”

Not a Mandarin speaker herself, she said that is the most challenging part of her job.

“Over 95 percent of our guests are Mandarin-speaking, and I’ve only learned about six words in Mandarin since I’ve joined the ship,” Bentz said. “It makes giving directions and assisting guests a lot harder, but I’ve learned to work around it. I get to visit a lot of beautiful ports when I get off the ship, though. I’ve been to Lava caves, shopping malls and the third tallest tower in Japan. Now that I’m more comfortable in my job, I’m a lot happier, and I’m already looking forward to my next contract.”

She’s still working in theater though, like she was at EOU.

“My job involves moving set pieces, props and operating our hydraulic pit during shows, or sometimes operating the spotlights or assisting with our ice shows,” she said, joking that she tries not to get run over by pianos. “Outside the theater, I mostly do crowd control. Assisting guests on and off the ship during port days, wheelchair duties in port, keeping people from getting run over by giant Pandas during our welcome parade and keeping people from recording or getting on the ice during ice shows. So mainly I keep people from getting run over.”

She said the responsibilities for stage safety differs from ship to ship depending on the cruise staff.

She credits part of how she got the job on the cruise line to EOU’s career center, but most of it to her experience working at McKenzie Theatre.

“Justin Chin in our Career center was amazing with helping construct my resume and getting networking advice, and is definitely a resource every EOU student should use,” she said. “But the main skills I got this job with were learned over three years of working as a technician in McKenzie Theatre, mostly self-taught. It wasn’t my degree that got me this job. It was my experience and dedication. While I value my education at EOU, I don’t think my BS in Theatre is going to get me jobs. It’s the experience I gained while getting that degree that was more helpful.”