By Hans Kullberg | Co-Founder, Open Dreams
"In order to rise from its own ashes, a Phoenix first must burn". This quote from Octavia succinctly illustrates the turmoil and challenges from which hope and optimism has sprung a shining light in the form of our brand, new Open Dreams Center in Yaounde. While our main headquarters in Bamenda has endured 3 years of turmoil, we finally broke ground and opened our long-awaited Yaounde center, which has been 2 years in the making, thanks in large part to our generous donors during our September campaign.
The desks and chairs have been procured while 12 laptop computers have served as invaluable portals, helping transform scholars lives, one essay at a time. The classroom is filled with the camaraderie and joy of classmates in collaboration, joining forces to help each other throughout this year's college applications. Mentors - many of which are Open Dreams alumni themselves - dial in via Skype to ensure mentees are on the right track. This Christmas Season, to christen our new Yaounde Center opening we are hosting our 4th Annual Open Dreams Christmas Party that will be filled with singing performances, dances, Christmas Caroling and more.
Among the top recent successes over the past month, Beauclaire, who has been mentored by Open Dreams co-founder Blaise, was recently awarded the prestigious Schwarzman Scholarship for a year-long masters studies in International Affairs in Beijing, China. Through their efforts to make a sustained and exemplary commitment to improve their communities and the world around them, Open Dreams alums Theodore and Ngosong were accepted as Clinton Global Initiative Scholars and will be attending the CGIU summit in Edinburgh in April. We are very proud their accomplishments as they set a strong example for others to follow. We await university decisions to see who will be the next batch of scholars to officially capture a prestigious full-ride college scholarship.
The SAT Exam Testing on December 7th is just around the corner and Open Dreams will have a record, nearly 20 students, taking this important entrance exam. Many of these scholars have been scoring in the 1300s on their practice exams and we wish these scholars the best of luck! From all of us at Open Dreams, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season!
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