Bravo's Real Housewives of Atlanta star Cynthia Bailey and daughter Noelle Robinson along with V-103's Syntonnia hosted the "Kids Dreaming Big" Meet and Greet celebrating the first annual "Kids Dreaming Big" Scholarship recently. The community gathered at the fred's Super Dollar in Conyers, Ga to support 7 students from across the Southeast region awarded over $3,000 in scholarships and participate in a great afternoon of family fun.
The "Kids Dreaming Big" Scholarship sponsored by fred's Super Dollar Store and African Pride DreamKids Hair Care, was open to youth grades 3-5 encouraging the next generation to believe in the beauty of their dreams and to provide a national platform to pursue them. Over 100 contestants submitted an essay sharing their personal endeavors and explaining the importance of pursuing their dreams.
(L-R) "Kids Dreaming Big" Scholars Kimara Parki, Ariel Buggs, Alejandra Stack and Little Miss Renaissance 2013, Jai Lee (Photo: Javier)
Among the recipients is Bahamian-born Alejandra ‘Allie’ Stack, who already has plans for what she intends to do with her scholarship.
“I want to be a professional gymnast or in media like my mom,” she told the audience when asked by Sytonnia what she’d like to be when she grows up.
Allie is the daughter of Caribbean media personality Arthia Nixon and grand-daughter of Arthur and Evangeline of Eleuthera, Bahamas. She is also a gymnast, model, entrepreneur and youth correspondent/reporter known as Allie In Action. Among her many accomplishments, Allie is a member of Morrow Elementary’s SCORE program which requires her to leave her regular classroom to participate in the gifted program.
She also enjoys buddy reading to kindergartners and first graders. Despite her age, last year, her national percentile rank revealed she scored greater than 90% of students nationally in the same grade in reading, placing her par with the average ninth grader.
“I had an awesome time,” said Allie. “They treated us like we were celebrities. We had a town car, and we stayed at the Hilton in downtown Atlanta and then we went to the fred’s superstore. They had a nice buffet for us and then we met Ms. Cynthia and Noelle.
They remind me a lot of me and my mom because they look like they like being together. They told us to go after our dreams. Then we got interviewed and then they took our pictures with our checks - lots of pictures. Then we finally got back to the hotel and when we got there we had a huge gift bag on our bed with products from Dream Kids and African Pride which was really cool because my mom uses it on our hair like for a really long time.”
“The whole experience from start to finish was truly amazing,” added her mother. “Nicole and the Garner Circle were exceptionally professional and really created a great memory for us. I’m excited too because my mother used African Pride on my hair when I was a child and all these years later, I’m using Dream Kids on my own daughter’s hair.
Yes, most beauty shops in The Bahamas, which has a population more than 70% African-descent, carry the products. Speaking of home, I absolutely also have to thank everyone from The Bahamas who went over and just flooded us with support and encouragement, especially on social media. It’s truly a humbling experience as a divorced parent doing it totally alone to have people pour out support and share in your happiness. ”
