What Does Disney Dreamer Looks Like? A Marvel Internship Winner!
Last week I was invited to attend the Disney Dreamer Academy for the third time. As usual, it was amazing. I can hardly believe that I get to attend events like this and share it with you all. One of my favorite things to do at this event is getting to know the Dreamers. I love interviewing them and learning more about who they are and their plans to make the world a better place. This year was no different.
After reading through the bios of all 100 Dreamers, I selected a few that I wanted to interview. One of which was Maia Dua. Maia is a 17-year-old senior at River City High School in West Sacramento, California. I was so intrigued by her bio. She participates in a community service club, an AP club, serves as the Varsity Wrestling team captain, and is very active in the robotics club.
The Disney Dreamer Academy exposes Dreamers to the behind the scene magic during the Deep Dives – stellar educational experiences that includes interactive workshops designed to motivate students to dream big. Maia participated in the Imagineering and engineering workshops with several other dreamers and the very experienced Disney Cast Members.
I was truly interested in talking to Maia about the robotics competition where she was named the Grand Prize Winner of Marvel’s Captain America Civil War: Girls Reforming the Future Challenge. That grand prize also included a week-long internship at Marvel Studios and a Red-Carpet Premiere of Captain America Civil War.
The challenge invited girls nationwide, ages 15-18, in grades 10-12, to submit innovative STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) based projects that have the potential to change the world. Five finalists were selected to go to California and present their projects to a panel of experts. Maia, the youngest of the group won the grand prize.
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When asked how her Marvel internship combined with the Disney Dreamer Academy will impact her future she said, “It’s incredible…getting me closer to fulfilling my dream of becoming a Disney Imagineer and creating the feeling of “home” at the happiest place on earth.
Since she was familiar with and an obvious fan of Marvel, I could not resist telling her that I attended the Red-Carpet Premiere for Black Panther. I asked her thoughts about Black Panther and the upcoming Infinity War. She said, “I loved Black Panther, it was very good. As for Infinity War, I am interested to see how the story line will unfold. It’s much more difficult to tell a story involving so many characters.” She also thought we should meet at the Red-Carpet Premiere of Infinity War…I agreed. LOL!
I am so thankful to Disney, Steve Harvey, and Essence for allowing me to attend Disney Dreamer Academy and the opportunity to meet so many amazing Dreamers! If you are a parent of a teenager or know someone who would be interested in learning more about being part of the Academy, please share this article with them.
[latoyia]
