Laurel school featured on HGTV's 'Home Town'

LAUREL, Miss. (WDAM) - Amanda Cooley, owner and mastermind behind Unlimited Dreams Christian Learning Center, watched her dreams turn to reality on the big screen Sunday.

“It’s like seeing it for the first time, even though we’ve been in it for a while,” Cooley said.

In July, Cooley unveiled the newly-renovated Unlimited Dreams Christian Learning Center.

At the time, there was a secret she couldn’t tell.

“We will be on HGTV ‘Home Town’ show tonight,” Cooley said Sunday afternoon.

Sunday night, she shared the experience with loved ones, watching Unlimited Dreams come to life from the comfort of her own home, like everyone else across the nation.

“Even if they’re my friends, they’re my family,” Cooley said. “Because these are people that surround me all the time. So, I got my cousin and her children. And those are my two first cousins back there. I got my mama and my best friend right there. And Randall and some cousins, my children. Everybody is here. And we’re just so excited.”

Family and friends said nothing compared to watching Cooley react to fruits of her labor.

“All of us grew up together,” said Theresa Sims, a childhood friend. “Just knowing her, coming up through elementary school and high school, we knew that she loved children. She’s been teaching Sunday school since she was a young teenager. Any chance she got to teach children and educate children and spend time with them, she’s taken advantage of it,”

Others said Cooley always was taught to have a loving and nurturing spirit, which got her where she is today.

“She always has believed in kids and the future of them and investing in them, so I think she’s doing a great thing,” said Donnie Bolton, a cousin.

A member of the contractor team that helped with the center’s remodel also joined the watch party.

Friends with Cooley for years, ‘Home Town’ contractor Katie Hinton said sharing the experience from start to finish taught her even more about her good friend.

“Amanda has this unique sense of faith that is so real and so true,” Hinton said. “A lot of people say they have faith, but she shows it. And she has completely relied on the community and on her faith to see her through this. And everybody’s showed up.”

After the episode ended, Cooley’s faith persisted.

“If you do not know what God will do, you witnessed it tonight,” Cooley said. “This is faith in action, love in motion. And so, I just want to say that Unlimited Dreams, this is just the beginning. And we’re just waiting for what’s next.”

Unlimited Dreams Christian Learning Center is located on North Second Avenue in Laurel in the old Glory House Building.

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