The Dream Center

📣 Shoutout Saturday!

We are so grateful to all our sponsors for The Human Race 5K! 💛 Because of your generous support, we were able to reach our goals and continue making a difference in the lives of the students and families we serve.

Your partnership helps us grow, impact our community, and create opportunities that matter. We couldn’t do it without you—thank you for believing in our mission!

☀️ Summer is coming, and we’re getting ready!

At the Dream Center, we are so excited to be planning engaging, hands-on educational activities to help prevent the “summer slide” 📚✨ While school may be out, learning never stops—and we’re making sure it’s fun!

From interactive STEM projects to creative enrichment and reading adventures, our students will stay active, curious, and growing all summer long. 💡🌈

We can’t wait to learn, explore, and make memories together!

In January, our students explored a powerful question: How can we use words to encourage one another? 💛

Through thoughtful conversations and shared ideas, students discovered the impact kind words can have. They practiced speaking encouragement and uplifting their peers, creating a positive space where everyone feels valued and supported.

To bring it all together, students added their encouraging words to complete our Encouragement Tree 🌳—a beautiful reminder that our words can help others grow!

A little Tomato Challenge for the win! 🍅⚽

We loved seeing our students shine today and every day! So proud of the growth we’re seeing in our students so far this year! Moments like these remind us why this work matters 💛 Help us continue creating spaces where kids can grow and glow!

In our 😃, students explored the exciting world of electricity using our newest curriculum, Quirkles!

They read about Ellie Electricity and her hilarious challenge of dealing with messy hair after pulling off a sweater—then set out to solve the problem themselves. 💡

Hands-on fun followed as students experimented with balloons 🎈 to discover static electricity in action. Laughter, curiosity, and learning filled the room as they tested their ideas and saw science come to life!

We love having the at The Dream Center! During the last visit they brought iPads to have the kids learn about a nature ID app called iNaturalist.org. The kids practiced how to use the app and were able to record their observations and have the app identify what they found! 🐸🐜🐞🌿🍄🌸

The North Carolina Center for Afterschool Programs (NC CAP ) today released a new resource to show business and community leaders why afterschool and out-of-school-time programs are a workforce solution in North Carolina.

This straightforward, easy-to-digest resource includes the latest data from the America After 3 PM report and highlights how afterschool programs: help youth build the skills that employers need, and keep parents and caregivers in the workforce. 🌟

Collaboration is key. In QUEST, students build friendships, creativity, and leadership skills through team-based problem solving. Each learner taps into their unique strengths to lead their team to success! 💪
During phase one, the map phase, teams explore 🧐 virtual locations to find resources or avoid dangers, enhancing skills in deductive reasoning, self-management, and teamwork.

There’s nothing like a little hula hoop action to get the smiles going! 😄

Our students had a blast spinning, twirling, and challenging themselves to keep those hoops moving. Hula hooping isn’t just fun — it builds coordination, balance, endurance, and confidence all at the same time!

We love seeing our kids stay active, encourage one another, and celebrate every victory (even if the hoop drops a few times 😉).