Dreamer ENT – Dream. Dare. Soar.

You are browsing the archives of 2009 June.

Check out this video from one of the young people who was a winner of the Do Something Awards which we posted about earlier this week. 19-year-old Darius Weems from Athens, GA, was born with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a genetic disorder that claimed the life of his older brother.

Knowing the rest of his life would be spent in a wheelchair, Darius and friends drove from small-town Georgia to California, hoping to convince West Coast Customs to Pimp his Ride. They decided to film their trip and made a film called “Darius Goes West.” To date, Darius has raised almost 2 million dollars for DMD research, and traveled over 100,000 miles educating Americans about his cause. Watch the powerful trailer to see clips of his journey. To support Darius and his cause, and to buy DVDs visit www.dariusgoeswest.org.

Nike is looking for their next Field Reporter, a young woman who will get the opportunity to travel across the country and interview some of the biggest athletes in the game. Check out Nike’s description of the contest below:

Who Were Lookin For
One lucky lady between 18-24 whos sassy, smart and sports savvy. If you’re in the know and on the go, its time to take your shot at being the first-ever Nike Field Reporter.

Whats a Field Reporter?
If you think you have what it takes to volley one-liners with Maria Sharapova, kick it with Mia Hamm, and Q&A over cappuccinos with Serena Williams, this is your dream job.

As the Nike Field Reporter, you’ll jetset around the country on Nike’s dime talking to athletes, artists and culture makers. You’ll report back in the form of photos, videos and blog entries.

You have to be ready for anything and anyone. As this is being written, the current Nike Field Reporter is spending a few days just hanging out with Kobe Bryant.

Think you could keep up? Remember this isn’t a job for the camera shy. Or the easily intimidated. You’ll need to show us you can talk a good game, as well as play one. Make us laugh. Impress us with your quick wit and storytelling. Prove to us you are Nike’s next star in a 2-minute audition video and sample blog post.

Check out the Nike site for more information and to apply.

You can visit the current Field Reporter’s blog here. Check out these videos of the first Nike Field Reporter, and the promotion video for the contest:

High School Musical star Corbin Bleu hosted the Do Something Awards at the Apollo Theater in New York on Thursday, June 4th. The awards show honored five young social entrepreneurs who have started projects to change the world, as well as celebrities like Usher who received the Celebrity Civic Leader of the Year Award. The night’s overall winner was 22-year-old Maggie Doyne from Mendham, NJ, who set up a school and orphanage in Nepal, and received $100,000 in community grants.

On the red carpet, Corbin described how he loves to give back, especially to kids through charities like the Starlight Foundation:

“…The are all these very young people just making a difference, and it just shows that you don’t have to be of a certain age, you don’t have to be of a certain caliber, you can do anything, wherever you come from, whatever age…” – Corbin Bleu

Do Something gives grants and support for teens to impact their communities through offline action. To find out more about how you can start your own project through the organization, visit www.dosomething.org.

Talk about dreams come true! 17-year-old singer Charice Pempengco recently blew away the audience of the Oprah Winfrey Show, and the world, with the performance of her first single “Note to God.” The performance was part of Oprah’s Talented Kids series finale.

Renowned songwriter Diane Warren, who wrote the song said “I thought that would be the perfect song, and you did way beyond what I had hoped for.”

Oprah told Charice, “You are a force to be reckoned with. That voice comes from something bigger than yourself. You’re pulling it up out of some place deeper than your little body.”

Click here or the picture below to see the video on Youtube. You can also see Charice’s interview on the Oprah Winfrey Show by clicking here.

Charice also has a role on the upcoming Alvin and the Chipmunks movie coming out on December 25, 2009.

Charice truly reminds us that dreams really can come true! See more facts about the young singer below.

For more about Charice, check out some facts below about how she got her start:

Dreamer Profile: Charice Pempengco

Charice began getting exposure through videos of herself singing on YouTube, gaining up to 13 million hits!

Born and raised in the Philippines, Charice was discovered at age 4 when her mother, a singer herself, noticed her daughter’s loud, rather enthusiastic version of “Happy Birthday” and decided to teach her proper vocal technique.

By age 7, Charice was competing in local contests and belting out songs by Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion.

In 2007, a web-savvy fan began posting a series of Charice’s performances on YouTube. These included her performances of “I Will Always Love You” and “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” from the “Dreamgirls” soundtrack – both of which were broadcast on the Filipino talent show Little Big Star. That led to a performance on the popular South Korean talent show Star King.

Once that appeared on YouTube, she became an authentic internet sensation. Charice soon attracted the attention of American TV shows and appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Several months later, she appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show bringing Oprah and the audience to tears when she sang.

Charice has performed alongside such stars as Michael Bublé, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Katharine McPhee and Josh Groban.

After singing with Celine Dion at her Madison Square Garden show in New York City, Charice confessed, “It was a dream come true. She’s my idol. I felt like the luckiest kid in the world.”

What’s next for Charice? “I want to sing AND dance with Justin Timberlake,” she laughs, speaking of how she would like to branch into different genres such as pop.

Facts from Charice’s Official website

The Dream In Color African American Heritage project is sponsored by Target and Scholastic, Inc. It features various videos of Renaissance woman Dr. Maya Angelou, poet, educator, historian, best-selling author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director. Here are some of her words from the video entitled “How can students find their creative voice?”

Dr. Maya Angelou: “I would say to young people and to old people or upper middle age, that we have seriously crippled ourselves and our children by telling people, ‘don’t try all these different things. You’ll become a jack of all trades and a master of none’. That’s ridiculous. You can become the master of everything. The best you can be.

“You know, we don’t understand talent. We don’t understand electricity. We probably use about one millionth of one billionth percent of the electricity around us. However, you can plug into two little holes in the wall, or three. You can light up a church, a cathedral, a synagogue, a temple. You can light up a surgery. You can light up a…a bedroom. Or you can electrocute a person strapped in a chair. Electricity makes no demands. It says if you are intelligent you will use me intelligently. If you’re not, you will use me destructively. But I’m here.
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