A Lil Positivity: 100 Lucky Students Join Celebs For Empowering Weekend At Disney’s Dreamer’s Academy 2018
A Lil Positivity: 100 Lucky Students Join Celebs For Empowering Weekend At Disney’s Dreamer’s Academy 2018
Steve Harvey, Yolanda Adams, Ne-Yo, Emmitt Smith & More Mentor Students At 11th Annual Dreamers Academy
Lucky teens got a chance to get up close and personal with some of their favorite celebs at Walt Disney World as part of a workshop to encourage them to follow their dreams.
One hundred lucky high school students from around the country attended the 11th annual Disney Dreamers Academy last weekend, hosted by Steve Harvey and Essence Magazine at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
During the four day workshop, the students, known as “dreamers,” received mentoring and career advice from celebrities like Steve Harvey, NFL great Emmit Smith, Ne-Yo, “Empire’s” Jussie Smollett and “Blackish’s” Miles Brown and Marsai Martin about staying true to what they want to do with their lives and using fear and failure as a teaching tool.
“Fear is paralyzing,” said Ne-Yo, who revealed he still gets nervous every time he takes the stage. “It can literally stop you from moving in every aspect of what it is that you do. And it’s up to you to allow that fear to be fuel as opposed to something that stops you from moving.”
This year’s theme was #Be100, a phrase meant to remind the students to remain authentically themselves as they pursue their passions.
“Your success and your future has a lot to do with your imagination,” Harvey told the teens. “You imagination is God talking to you…I’m on TV today because I imagined it. The same thing God did for me, he’ll do for you!”
High school junior Jaterria, 17, of Cartersville, Ga., said the program had a huge impact on her and made her even more determined to pursue a career as an orthopedic surgeon.
“It’s been great,” Jaterria said of her experience. “Usually I’m an introvert, but I’ve been able to get out of my comfort zone a little bit…Having something like is shaping all of us, and shaping our futures. It’s very extraordinary and very exciting to be here.”
The event closed with an emotional commencement ceremony, where Yolanda Adams performed with a choir. Later, the teens’ parents’ presented them with graduation rings.
Hit the flip for more pics from the Dreamer’s Academy:
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