By Jennie Madden, Youth Activation Council Member from Heide Trask High School, Pender County
When I went to the Project UNIFY Youth Activation Council (YAC) retreat last year, I didn’t really know anyone. I was really shy and kind of scared to talk because I didn’t want anyone to judge me. At the end of the trip last year, I realized that would never be the case because everyone was so wonderful and our YAC is truly like a family. Coming to Raleigh again this year and meeting the 2014-2015 YAC and North Carolina High School Athlete Association (NCHSAA) Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) members was the highlight of my summer. When I arrived to the hotel, I was so tired because I stayed up late the night before and I was ready for a nap. But as soon as I saw all my friends and the new friends I’d come to know and love, I was completely energized to meet with everyone. We all became so close in just two days and many of us talk every day now. I will never forget playing icebreakers when we all tried to sit on each other or learning about each other playing skits when I said my blood type was 2% milk. It was incredibly hilarious and we all shared great laughs.
At the end of the first night we watched a couple of Special Olympics videos featuring athletes that were very inspiring. We decided to make a joint video with SAAC members to promote Project UNIFY. When we were recording for the videos, I came up with the quote “All it takes is two hands and a heart”. This meant something to me as my Project UNIFY teacher said if I had two hands and a heart then I was able to join the Project UNIFY club at my school. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.
I really enjoyed meeting all the new SAAC students and YAC students. I feel like I got so much closer to them this year since I was able to come out of my shell. We all talked and bonded and had ideas about how to advocate for Project UNIFY and SAAC gave us great ideas for expansion of Unified Sports.
On Saturday, we traveled to UNC Chapel Hill’s high-low ropes course. It was such a great experience as we all started to work together to get through the obstacles. We all were very patient and encouraging with each other while learning about teamwork and communication skills. It was such a great feeling to know that I could meet such great people to spend a whole weekend with. We barely ever stopped laughing because we had such much fun with each other. While we did have a lot of fun, we also remembered the purpose of the weekend and got down to business bouncing ideas off of each other for how we are going to successfully spread Project UNIFY throughout the state.
When SAAC left it was sad to see them all go since we all had so much fun together, but YAC was getting down to business planning and understanding what Project UNIFY really is. I really appreciated the time we took to dig deep into the roots of PU. This is made my motivation stronger to share the message of what PU is all about. I really liked how we all switched to different committees so we can get more ideas and plans flowing.
All in all it was one of the best experiences I have had in a long time and I am so happy that I got closer to everyone. It was so much fun. I really liked that I was paired up with a roommate that I didn’t know prior to going on the trip. It made me feel a lot closer to her and others instead of being paired with someone that went to my school. I look forward to the amazing things the SONC YAC will accomplish this year!
