A North Texas teen is using fine arts to boost the confidence and creativity of other kids. She's this week's KRLD DIfference Maker.
At just 16. Hockaday junior and elite dancer Madeleine Chen is wise beyond her years.
"Overall I think there's a direct link between confidence and success," Madeleine said. "You have to truly believe in yourself for you to make the effort to make something truly happen."
Madeleine and her friend Elizabeth Echt, who is an award winning instrumentalist, want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to build confidence on their own through their 501(c)3 nonprofit Visions for Confidence. or V4C.
"We are dedicated to help boosting confidence and creativity in our next generation through fine arts," Madeleine said. "So we've been involved in fine arts since a very young age and we realize that the resources that were given to us we're not available to a lot of other kids outside of our own community so we really wanted to create a program that was able to supply resources and monetary support to students who wanted to pursue the arts as a career when they get older."
V4C focuses on fundraising and giving back to the community. Through music lessons, dance lessons, tutoring, clothing drives and various donations Visions for Confidence has raised more than 25k dollars to provide students valuable instruction and monetary support. Some of the things that V4C has accomplished include:
· In June 2021, V4C awarded a travel scholarship to an exemplary young artist at The Dallas Conservatory (TDC) to support her participation in the National Finals of the New York City Dance Alliance (NYCDA), a rare opportunity that she would have missed if she had not received a travel scholarship from V4C. Because of the scholarship, she not only competed but also won a $100,000 scholarship to PACE University’s commercial dance program, launching her continued education and career!
· V4C has provided nearly $8000 in scholarships to six local talented young dancers with financial needs to participate in the 2021-2023 classical and commercial dance competitions to help advance these talented artists’ dance training and launch their professional careers.
· V4C earned a World Semi-Finalist award at the International High School Diamond Challenge Business Competition for their social innovation and impact.
"Confidence is something that is really affected by a lot of factors in life," Madeleine said. "So I think what we really wanted to create was an environment where we can help kids build their confidence because that way we can help boost their success and boost their happiness."
We're proud to call Madeline Chen and VIsions for Confidence this week's KRLD Difference makers.
If you know someone making a difference in the community, send us an email at differencemaker@krld.com and check out all our difference makers here.
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