This past week, we awarded a scholarship to Tyrik Smith so he can play football with the Columbia Youth Football League. Tyrik is 8 years old but he’s already racing his way to the top in math class (which is his favorite subject in school!) And when we say racing, we mean that because Tyrik is fast! At tryouts last week, the coaches told him he was one of the fastest runners so he’s hoping to be a running back when he starts playing! “I want to play football because it’s fun. You get to run and I like running. I am excited to learn new footwork and new plays.”

We are so excited that Tyrik is ready to hit the ground running not only in football but in school and the community. He wants to help people learn new things and work on his math skills! Plus, he said he’s going to try to eat more veggies and drink a lot of water in the next few months. That should definitely help him put on that burst of speed! Congratulations, Tyrik, we are so excited to have you as a Day Dreams kid!

This past weekend, we were so excited to award a basketball scholarship to MeAhjai! MeAhjai has loved the game since a young age when her cousins taught her to play, and she’s been playing with the boys ever since she can remember. She’s excited to play with the girls this summer, and they’re headed to Oklahoma this weekend for nationals. She loves the sport so much that when she gets older she hopes to continue playing or coaching. Good luck MeAhjai and keep chasing your dreams!

The Day Dreams Foundation is proud to introduce our newest scholarship recipient, eleven year-old Saryia! Eventually she’d like to be a vet, but right now Saryia’s focus is on basketball, specifically “shooting, scoring, and learning how not to travel.” Saryia has grown up playing casual games of basketball, and her Day Dreams scholarship will get her involved in an organized league to help develop her game even further. Getting ready to start middle school, Saryia’s excited to make new friends – but just as importantly she plans on “keeping the old ones” too. We’re excited for Saryia and her upcoming season, join us in congratulating her!

We also awarded a ballet scholarship to Sydney on Thursday. She loves ballet because “you get to dance and I love dancing.” She even loves rehearsing! Her next big ballet goal is to work on her foot work to make her toes be as pointy as possible.

Not only does she have a favorite color, she has four favorite colors: pink, purple, blue and black. Her favorite subject is math, and her favorite thing to do is, of course, ballet. When Sydney grows up, she wants to be a popstar like Taylor Swift or Katy Perry. She wasn’t able to pick a favorite song because she loves them all!

We asked her to tell us something special about herself, and she had a great response. “I’m cute!” Her oldest sister added that she’s cute because she has cheeks that feel like marshmallows. Sydney will do just great in ballet!

We awarded Aubree a gymnastics scholarship. Aubree likes gymnastics because she likes spending time with her friends and of course, she loves learning about gymnastics. Her next big gymnastics goal is to learn how to do a cartwheel on the balance beam. What a big goal!

Aubree’s favorite colors are purple and black, and her favorite subjects in school are math and science. Both will be helpful when she either becomes an artist or a vet when she grows up. Her role model is her oldest sister, and they both sure can be silly together. We asked Aubree what was something special about her, and she said playing pranks. After meeting Aubree this is definitely true because my purse mysteriously went missing as part of one of her pranks.

Aubree will do wonderfully in gymnastics, and we know she’ll always keep things entertaining for those around her.

Red, pink, math, fruit, and helping her mom at home…these are some favorites of the newest addition to the Day Dreams family! Shirley hopes to be a firefighter someday, but first she wants to to learn how to flip during her new gymnastics classes. Tomorrow is the first day of Shirley’s 6 month session at Flipz USA and as a self-proclaimed and very obviously “fun loving person,” we think she’ll do splendidly!

On Monday, Day Dreams awarded a scholarship to Isaac so he can take piano lessons! Isaac is 6 and has three younger siblings who he can’t wait to play the piano for!

So far he knows the Darth Vader theme song (his mom taught him!) but now he’s hoping to learn some other themes, specifically the Avenger’s movie theme song. Speaking of the Avengers – watching the first movie is one of his favorite things to do (but he said he doesn’t watch the scary parts) and he likes to watch Arizona basketball because his family recently moved here from there.

Isaac is an active 2nd grader who’s favorite subject in school is P.E. His favorite colors are red and blue and he made sure to write his name on the Day Dreams blackboard in both colors!!

We are so excited to be able to help Isaac achieve his dream of playing the piano when he grows up and we can’t wait to hear him play the Avengers song!

The Day Dreams Foundation happily awarded a scholarship to Jake to participate in drum lessons for Access Percussion. Jake is an energetic 7 year old who brought two of his favorite cars with him to his scholarship meeting. Jake said that he loves drumming and hopes to one day play for the youth choir at his church.

Andrew, 12, received a scholarship to participate in Super Smash Bros Gaming Camp this summer through the Columbia Career Center. Andrew loves playing video games and would like to pursue designing them when he grows up. When talking about why he is excited about camp this summer, Andrew told me “interacting with characters on screen can be very cool.” He pointed out “with movies and books you don’t get to decide what happens, but in video games you have more freedom and creativity.” Andrew’s favorite subject in school is band. Also, special things about Andrew: he has an especially good memory and enjoys keeping up with politics. Some goals Andrew has for this summer are to communicate better with people and make new friends at camp. He also would like to go outside more- to bike and play soccer with his friends.