In a world where young people are either put on a pedestal or picked apart for simply speaking their minds, Disney Dreamers Academy (DDA) flips the script, giving them a space where their voices aren’t just heard but valued.
For four days at Walt Disney World, 100 high school students from diverse backgrounds entered a space designed not to change them but to recognize them—not for the neatness of their resumes or the polish of their elevator pitches but for the ambition pulsing beneath it all. This once-in-a-lifetime experience was a refreshing disruption. One that blends mentorship, culture, and magic in a way only Disney could pull off. And while it felt like a fairytale, the experience was a real-life glimpse into the future.
“I dream of a world that’s different than this one,” actor and 2025 Dreambassador Tyler James Williams told theGrio. “And I think they [young people like the 2025 Dreamers] are going to be the ones that are going to be able to do that.”
Williams, along with stars like “Mufasa” actor Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tamela and David Mann, motivational speaker Lisa Nichols, comedian Rickey Smiley, and aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, poured into the students. But the real stars? The Dreamers because what they’re building isn’t just a dream—it’s a legacy.
For high school senior Kayla Greenwood, becoming a neurosurgeon isn’t just about her love for science. She’s seen firsthand how the health care system overlooks Black patients, and she’s determined to change that. As the founder of a pre-health careers club at her school, Greenwood isn’t just dreaming of being a doctor—she’s making space for others to see themselves in medicine, too.
“I want to be the doctor who provides that empathy,” she said, summing up her dream in one word: innovative.
For 15-year-old Vianna Fornville and 18-year-old first-generation Nigerian American Alexandra Onwuli, dreaming has no limits. Fornville, who wants to be a fashion or political journalist, attend cosmetology school, and eventually serve as the White House press secretary, left the DDA career exposé with one realization: she can do it all.
“It’s an and world, not an or world,” she said, sharing her biggest takeaway. “So you can be literally anything, and that has made me realize that some of the dreams that I put in the back of my head and told myself I shouldn’t focus on can come back to the [forefront].”
“I have a lot of dreams that I want and I want to do all of them,” Onwuli added. “I want to be everything and more.”
These affirmations came from not only the speakers and professional development sessions but also the environment Disney Dreamers Academy fostered. Torrick Pierce, an aspiring voice actor, cartoonist, and animator, lit up, talking about how this space validated all of his creative lanes. Similarly, 15-year-old Kylan Robinson spoke like someone who had just stepped out of a dream and realized it was real.
“The feeling of Disney world…the atmosphere is insane…they really brought something that was fiction to reality, it really blew my mind,” he told theGrio. “When I think about my dreams, if I saw that Disney could do it, then I’m pretty sure I could do it. I could bring something that that’s in my mind, that’s fiction…into reality, and I could share it with the rest of the world, and they’d probably like it, too.”
Though he’s unsure of his dream career, Kylan said his dream is best described with one word: love. “I just want to be someone who leaves an impact on the world. I just know the feeling that I want to leave.”
Senior Brice Everhart came into the program already thoughtful and intentional. But DDA sparked something within him—healing. With dreams of curing society’s problems, specifically in communication, Everhart learned that the cure is effective storytelling.
“I feel like our system is set up to medicate our problems…and keep them at bay, but they’re not really designed to change things,” he said. “Being at Disney, I see [the solution] comes from storytelling. All these stories effectively communicate a dream, aspiration, a story of perseverance; whatever it is, it’s very well understood, and I feel like that’s a way in which all of humanity connects together.”
Everhart experienced the impacts of stories firsthand in a discussion with Harrison Jr. about imposter syndrome. Understanding the pressure to be “the successful one” when the expectations are sky-high, Everhart felt seen in a way he hadn’t before. “You don’t always feel like who people say you are,” he admitted. “Just understanding that that’s a normal feeling that a lot of other people go through and overcome was inspiring.”
Disney Dreamers Academy is a reminder for anyone—regardless of age—to keep dreaming. And Onwuli said it best:
“You don’t have to be here to be a dreamer. It starts with you. Be more, do more and dream more.”
