Artifact #1: National Federation of State High Schools 2018 Leadership Summit

In the summer of 2018, I applied, and was selected to be one of four of Vermont’s representatives at the 2018 NFHS Leadership Summit. The national summit gathers select high school-age students from every state in the US to come together for a three-day conference, partnered with Special Olympics Indiana, to discuss current events, practice honing qualities of leadership, listen to inspiring individuals speak about their experiences, and share ideas and initiatives to better our communities across the nation. 

It was such an honor to be surrounded by so many amazing students and inspiring speakers, as well as getting the opportunity to be a part of such a large Special Olympics event. I’m so grateful that I was able to attend this conference because it is what inspired me, as well as some of my peers at school, to create a Unified Basketball team at our own local school back in Vermont. Before this conference, I had never heard of “Unified Sports”, which is a concept where high school-age people with disabilities play on a competitive sports team with their peers in their own league. But by talking with students from other schools and states, I learned that Unified Sports was widespread, and was also a huge step in the right direction for disability inclusion. I will never forget the amazing experience I had at this conference, and I’m even still in touch with some of the friends I made while I was there!