The year 2020 will be a memorable one for years to come. The pandemic flipped many student’s worlds upside down. With very little warning or understanding, they were no longer able to hangout with their friends, participate in extra curricular activities, go to the movie theatre or even go out to eat. That is enough to make all of us feel down in the dumps. Hadley Golden, an 8th Grade Homeschool student at Elite, showed us how she took this negative circumstance and turned it into a potentially life changing and positive experience!
Hadley was working with one of Elite’s awesome Language Arts Vendors (Write on Webb) where she had to write an essay about her dream job. Through this assignment, Hadley realized her dream of becoming a theme park set designer, ideally for Universal, Disney or Legoland! She explains in her essay that this will not be an easy feat.

“This job is for someone courageous, fearless, and adaptive. This is not for an individual who likes to dip one toe in the water. It is for the adventurer who will dive in headfirst and enjoys being cutting edge. If imagination does not come naturally, he or she is on the wrong playground”.

Melissa Webb with Write on Webb said it was one of the most well-written inspirational papers.

“Teaching places me in the presence of great, young minds. What a gift! Exceptional students require a little inspiration and a lot of encouragement. They do all the work. Hadley Golden is a perfect example of this. She is a talented, creative, courageous, hard-working person. It is my honor to know her”.

When the quarantine hit hard at the beginning of 2020, she became inspired to create.  Hadley had earned the money for her Legos from her mom-daughter Origami Owl business, where she is a part of a Young Entrepreneur’s Program. She had all the tools (and time) she needed to build whatever she wanted: and she did just that!

Hadley created Golden Ticket Dream-Park with lots of unique features that allow theme parks to maximize their profitability with quarantine  protections in place and some innovative perspectives in new layouts and attractions.  She is also a true Harry Potter fanatic and was able to purchase most of the Harry Potter Lego Collection so that she could recreate the famed Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  Perhaps as impressive as the Golden Ticket Dream-Park is her Quarantine Compound.  The Quarantine Compound is home to a unique multi-generational 90-member family who is quarantining together with a considerable amount of pets too.  She built a whimsical, thoughtful, and efficient home complete with a kitchen that can seat all, an outdoor Harry Potter amphitheater, water slide, pet pagoda, and more.  Each room is full of detail and bunkbeds of course that reflect the personalities and hobbies of the kids who bunk there.

Her mother, Tiffany Golden, is so proud of her daughter and everything she has accomplished throughout her time in quarantine.
“Discovering her dream job literally gave her a sense of elevated purpose. Who knew that it would be something horrific like a pandemic that gave her the time and space to bring this to life.  This has filled her soul most of all and filled the long lonely days with possibility over pain and distracted her from feeling more fear”.
After seeing the above video, one of her current instructors, Brenda Cole, also encouraged her to explore online programs to expand on her talents. During the process of writing her paper, she created a video that went viral at Universal Creative and landed her a 1-hour phone call with Elaine Hinds, the Director and Executive Producer at Universal Creative! It is safe to say that when Hadley sets her sights on something, she does not stop until she gets it.
The encouragement she has received from Universal Studios and her own Elite Teachers is fueling her belief in herself at a time where teens are so hard on themselves and struggling through this time of isolation. Hadley is fighting the negativity of quarantine the only way she knows how, with grit and tenacity. All of us here at Elite are extremely proud of what she has accomplished during this tumultuous time, and hope that her story can inspire others to begin doing what they love!