Young Dreamer Network

April has been an exciting month for the Young Dreamer Network. It began with our California Young Dreamers making a push to develop a National Anti-Bullying campaign. Our Dreamers were emphatic about creating a campaign that would address the core issues of bullying: a lack of tolerance, a need for acceptance and a change in perspective. To help our brainstorming process, supporter Erica Bell, led our Dreamers with a "conversation mapping" strategy.

For anyone not familiar with this strategy, the process begins with a group of participants writing words/phrases in the center of a large piece of paper that they think might trigger other ideas, observations, reactions or feelings about the main topic. According to Bruce McKenzie, the author of Conversation Mapping, “The result typically looks like a branch, which extends out into large twigs which themselves branch further into smaller twigs, with each point of branching reflecting different aspects of the problematic situation being explored.”

Over the next few months, our Dreamers will continue to lead the development of their bullying campaign, which will include a variety of ideas from student-led seminars, commercial production and theatrical events. The passion and leadership these Dreamers have displayed in developing this campaign is exciting. We are incredibly optimistic about the role they will play in improving the quality of life in their community.

The California Young Dreamers also displayed their leadership and commitment to serve during their spring break. Their service project was one of a series of visits to tutor and mentor third graders at The St. Francis Center. The SFC is located in the heart of North Fair Oaks and serves the most vulnerable of the community with a small school, bagged food services, 24 affordable housing units, free showers, laundry services, and community garden plots. Each third grader was paired with a Young Dreamer, who helped them with math and reading. Before leaving The St. Francis Center, the Young Dreamers painted Easter eggs with the students and made friendship bracelets. Working with SFC has been a great experience for our Dreamers. They have thrived in having an opportunity to mentor younger students.

After our service project, our Young Dreamers went on a private tour of Electronic Arts corporate headquarters, which is based in Redwood Shores, California. EA Redwood Shores is home to a diverse range of development studios with video game franchises ranging from the bestselling The Sims, to the sci-fi horror title Dead Space and Dante’s Inferno.

EA Redwood Shores is an amazing company and has a real campus feel with four massive office buildings, two onsite restaurants, a large gym with the latest exercise equipment, a beautiful lawn for soccer and other sports, outdoor volleyball and basketball courts, and much more. The campus also features a number of cool meeting areas, gaming areas, and its very own Starbucks. Our Dreamers learned about all the work that goes into creating, designing, producing and marketing EA’s video games.