Recap of Mental Health Community Event on June 1, 2024
Teens Create Dreams (TCD) is an annual talent show showcasing an evening of local area talent. TCD is run by a group of high school students under the mentorship of founder Julie Ota and Felix Wada. Every year, our volunteer students meet throughout the summer to plan, create, and direct the annual talent show with proceeds benefiting the WEAVE (Women Escaping a Violent Environment) non-profit organization. Our panel of local judges have the hardest job selecting winners for monetary prizes.
2023 TCD Talent Show
On August 19, 2023, Teens Create Dreams (TCD) held a successful talent show featuring the talent of 15 competitors and four additional special performances. The competitors ranged from ages 5 to 17. The acts included singing, rapping, different types of dance, taekwondo, and playing musical instruments.
Zaiyu Chen took the $1,000 first place prize for her unique piano performance, Anjali Sharma took the $500 second place prize for her dance to "A Million Dreams", Mhiko Tagatac took the $250 third place prize for singing "When I was Your Man", and the Mighty Monkeys took the $250 Janna Shimizu Award for their Kung Fu Panda inspired taekwondo demonstration.
TCD raised over $1,000 for the Sacramento Homeless Union with the profits from their show. The show this past summer also had a dinner buffet option for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Cattlemen’s catered dinner with salmon and steak as the main entree. Along with a dinner, the board ran a bake sale booth, a raffle, and last man standing to help raise funds for the nonprofit.
The TCD board was comprised of 21 hard working high schoolers, with Alyssa Nakagawa, Levi Bodner, and Kameron Wong serving as the co-presidents. Felix Wada and Julie Ota continue to serve as incredible advisors for this organization.