Dancing, Dreaming, Inspiring
Building bigger dreams, brighter futures
For Kam Phillips, what was once a school project is now a business plan.
As a freshman at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Phillips discovered her passion for inspiring underprivileged minority children in the area.
She began her work with the Boys and Girls Club as a service project for the Chancellor’s Leadership Class—the only class available to freshman that has an application process. From there, she moved on to designing Dream Outside The Box (DOTB) later on in the year for a final project.
“Well, in Chancellor’s Leadership Class we went one time to the Boys and Girls club and I decided volunteering for fun anytime I was free after that,” Phillips said.
She recalled on her visits meeting a boy who was defiant to work on homework because, when asked, he said no one cared about him. Working with him and giving him encouragement—at one point allowing him to voice his concern in a letter to President Obama—was what made her want to go back every week.
On her visits to the Boys and Girls Club, she would ask the children what they aspired to be. Out of shock by the lack of diversity in their responses, she found her impetus.
“I grew up as a rodeo cow girl,” Phillips said. “I did ballet— my family skied. So these were things I knew as ‘the norm.’ These were also the things that were the catalyst for Dream Outside The Box.
Phillips recalled nine people in attendance at the first Dream Outside The Box meeting. It has grown to roughly 27 regular volunteers, sometimes allowing one-on-one volunteer support for the children.
In addition to widespread support, the organization expanded to Dance Outside The Box (DaOTB). Because of the constraints of the space and teachers at the Missouri Contemporary Ballet Studio, DaOTB had to hold auditions to select children for the program.
Currently, 10 girls are enrolled and they meet every Thursday at 5:30 to practice, narrowed down from the 15 who auditioned. They learn several dance styles, ranging from ballet to hip-hop.
Dance Outside The Box Co-Director, Ashley Hayden, was selected to oversee the group from a studio visit with Dream Outside The Box.
“I did Dream Outside The Box first then when we did the field trip here I got caught dancing on camera,” Hayden said. “Kam asked if anyone wanted to help with the group and ever since then I’ve been apart of it.”
Currently, Ashley Hayden works with Kortney Dowler to schedule events, pick up the children for class and help the teachers work with each student
Phillips poses with Dance Outside the Box students at the Missouri Contemporary Ballet studio in downtown Columbia.
This spring, the girls will be performing a routine for Alice and Wonderland with the MCB studio in a performance they have been practicing all year.
“They’ve already mastered the dance,” Hayden said. “The girls were all so excited to learn and practice they picked up on everything so quickly.”
After her graduation from MU, Phillips has sought to make a career out of DOTB. She intends on expanding the organization by opening up in Fort Worth, Texas this January.
As they expand, Phillips hopes to recruit members from elementary schools around the country. She wants to look into areas near major colleges.
“I’d like to see us around other colleges around the country,” Phillips said. “I’d like to see this as a college student organization.”
Phillips also said she prefers programs such as Dance Outside the Box where they can expose children to an activity for a long period of time.
For someone who looks to create her own career, her ultimate goal is quite shocking:
“I want to put us out business,” Phillips said. “I want us to be where students won’t need an after school program to teach students to dream on their own.”
Hanna Battah