Actress Dara Reneé is spending her weekend pouring back into the youth at the 2024 Disney Dreamers Academy at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando. Reneé, 23, is this year’s DREAMbassador; she will be tapping in as a mentor and guide to 100 high school students across the country at the annual mentorship and career program and empowering them to dream big to their fullest potential.
For Reneé, the person who inspired her to dream big was her mother. “She’s literally my hero, I love her so much,” she says about her mom. “She’s always encouraging me. She has taught me so many wonderful, valuable lessons that I still hold on to this day.
The academy kicked off on Thursday at Disney’s Contemporary Resort with a welcome ceremony that featured Reneé, Disney Dreamers Academy Executive Champion Tracey Powell and 2011 Dreamers alum Princeton Parker, as well as a parade down Main Street at Magic Kingdom. The kids were also treated to an empowering performance from Kissy Simmons, who plays the role of Nala in the Broadway production of The Lion King.
Throughout the weekend, the students will have the opportunity to engage in interactive career-building workshops and panels, networking sessions and make lifetime mentorship connections that will hopefully open the door to future opportunities in their professional endeavors. Started in 2008, the Disney Dreamers Academy has sparked the dreams of more than 1,600 students.
“What we want for every single Disney Dreamer to do when they leave here is to know that they can make their dreams come true,” Powell shares with RoyalTee.
Reneé expressed that sentiment and stressed the importance of showing up for yourself and being your best self in the present moment. She also encouraged the kids to not give up on their dreams, using her personal testimony about her journey to earning the role of Kourtney in The High School Musical Series.
“They’re the future,” the star of Disney’s Descendants: The Rise of Red tells RoyalTee. ” I mean they know so much more than I do at that age and they’re so much cooler than me so literally I’m just grateful to be here with them. I know they’re going to make magic when they grow up and they’re making magic now.”
The Disney Dreamers Academy takes place April 4- 7 in Orlando.
