the NOODLEOpen up and say AHHHH!!!

Volume 2, Issue 3 August 2009

Welcome To The Noodle! by Alex Brown

This project is made possible by a grant from the US

Department of Health and Human Services,

Administration on Developmental

Disabilities.

Florida Youth CouncilLizzy Barrows

Matthew BoselliAlex Brown

Mason H. CharlesCarly Fahey

Nick GrabowskiGrier Harris

Whitney Harris Cinthia Melgar

Christopher Regan Sara Romine

Josue Tapia OrtizMatthew Zebroski

The Florida Youth Council is a program

of The Family Cafe

Welcome all to August 2009 issue of The Noodle. This is a very special issue of The Noodle. Its release corresponds to the opening of The 2nd Annual Youth Summit (AYS). The AYS is the annual conference that the Florida Youth Council

plans and hosts. The articles in this issue are all about the AYS. Some cover the members’ feelings about last year’s summit, and others cover a look forward to this year’s summit. I hope you enjoy these articles all about the AYS!

Making ProgressBy Mason Charles

Lately, at my intern-ship at a newspaper, The Destin Log, we have been focused on making an issue chronicling Des-tin’s growth over the past 25 years. We call this our “Progress” issue, and it shows how far we have come as a city and how much progress we have made along the way.

The Youth Sum-mit also represents prog-ress to me. Everyone that attends is taking a major step towards progressing through their lives; they are taking control of their futures by coming and being the boss of their disabilities.

This is a youth sum-mit, and it shows great determination by youths, especially those with disabilities, to come for-ward in an attempt to bet-ter their lives and have a good time with others facing the same issues. Everyone that attends is making progress in their own lives, as well as progress towards the cause as a whole (mak-ing life better for those with disabilities.) I am proud to put this event on, and proud to live in Florida, where disabled youth are great enough people to make this kind of progress.

By Nick GrabowskiThe 1st Annual Youth Summit (AYS) left

many things unfinished, for me I hope most of which will be rectified during the 2nd AYS. The 1st AYS one did leave me with a question. Can the first of something really be annual? I don’t mean annual in the literal definition (which means once a year), but in the sense of as a celebration. Wouldn’t it have

been better to call it just the Youth Summit, the first time around? But I digress from my silly point. I hope everyone is going to enjoy this “2nd” AYS as much as they can. We of the Florida Youth Council have been trying to fix anything that was wrong with the first one, and put more of what was good in the second. It’s sure to be a blast, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Last summer, the Florida Youth Council hosted The 1st Annual Youth Summit in Orlando. It was a blast and well attended. It took a lot of preparation from the members of the council. It was great being able to plan out all the breakouts and the keynote. The difficult part was making sure that all the sessions were well attended, and that meant making sure the presenta-tions were age ap-propriate. Finding topics that everyone could understand took a lot of thought and time from our youth.

One of the h i g h l i g h t s w a s painting tiles for a Disabilities Mu-ral. Everyone got to participate in the activity. All the tiles were unique in their own way. Another highlight of the summit was a movie for all the kids; no parents were allowed!! My personal favorite part of the summit was the dance/pizza party! Everyone had a blast even though the power went out a few times and we ended with a DJ. It was loud and crazy!

The Summit is also good for parents. Some parents think they have to be with their child 24/7. Even children with dis-abilities need time without parental super-vision. Kids can have a good time and act reasonably well without their

parents. I think its parents that can’t leave their children alone because they think their kids can’t function without them by their side 24/7. NOT!!!!!! Some parents even said afterwards that they learned something too. Kids are kids, no matter if they have disabili-ties or no disabilities.

After the 1st Summit I was pumped and ready to advocate for myself and other

people with dis-abilities, and I started thinking of ideas for the next one. The Florida Youth Council worked together as a team and I know I take pride in being a future leader in Florida! The summit has made me want to make a difference in our world, and I hope people who attend the summit

feel the same way. It’s a good feeling to know we are all trying to share our knowledge.

This August, The 2nd Annual Youth Summit will be bigger and better!!! We have a keynote that we hand picked. His name is Josh Sundquist. He lost his leg to cancer, but he is a skier and participates in the Paralym-pics. He is an inspiration and believes never giving up!

I have enjoyed planning and partici-pating in the decision making for The 2nd Annual Youth Summit, and I’m really look-ing forward to it!

Youth Summit Here We ComeBy Lizzy Barrows

The Youth Summit of the Past Meets The Youth Summit of the Future

The Florida Youth Council (FYC) has worked hard to prepare an event that will be both educational and fun for youth with disabilities. That event is The 2nd Annual Youth Summit (AYS), which is being held on August 7 and 8 in Orlando.

So, what makes the 2nd AYS differ-ent from any other summit or conference? Well there is the little thing of no parents. The 2nd AYS is for youth and emerging leaders only. The parents’ role is to relax and enjoy their time away from their kids. This concept has to do with leadership and independence. Sometimes parents get in the way of a youth’s leadership and in-dependence. The parents may have the best intentions, but like any other youth, youth with disabili-ties need space to grow. The Annual Youth Summit is designed to provide that independence, even if it is only for the weekend. The hope is that the youth or emerging leader will use the 2nd AYS as a spring board to-ward their independence. The hope is also that the parents might realize that their child can be independent, as scary as that may seem to them.

The other thing that makes the An-nual Youth Summit so different is who is planning it. All of the events at the summit have been hand picked by the members of the FYC. In case you didn’t know, the FYC is composed of youth and emerging leaders with disabilities. So the difference is that the event is for youth, planned by youth. The constant question asked by the mem-bers of the FYC when making decisions about activities for 2nd AYS has been “Is this something I would want to do?” If the answer was ever no, we worked to change that part of the program.

Alright, now that you know why the 2nd AYS is different, the question is what has a group of youth and emerging leaders

with disabilities come up with to do at the 2nd AYS? Well, to cover the educational aspect, there will be break out sessions, but not like normal breakout sessions. These sessions are geared to the youth. Youth want interaction. Youth want entertainment. Youth want fun. The idea is that while the youth and emerging leaders are being entertained, they are more likely to get something out of the sessions. All the presenters were chosen by the FYC. Some of the topics include in-timacy, transition and self-esteem.

So now that the educational part is covered, we have the actual fun part. Our

keynote speaker for the 2nd AYS, Josh Sundquist, will begin the fun. He is an inspirational come-dian and his presentation is heavy on the comedy. Josh is an emerging leader who is missing a leg. He doesn’t allow that to stop him. His presentation is sure to get everyone laughing and enjoying themselves.

Other than our hilari-ous keynote speaker, there are several ice-breakers planned. When most people say ice-breaker people groan, but remember youth and emerging leaders planned this event and they asked themselves, “Is this something I would like to do?” These icebreakers are guaranteed to be fun and informative. Any event is boring if you don’t walk away with a new friendship or two. That is where ice-breakers come in. They break the ice and allow real conversations to begin.

The most important part of the 2nd AYS, when it comes to fun, is the Dance Party scheduled for Saturday. It is the last event on the schedule, and it will cap the event off with a bang, with a DJ to entertain all the participants late into the night.

Ok, that about covers The 2nd An-nual Youth Summit. To recap, it is an event hosted by youth and emerging leaders, for their peers. It is sure to offer plenty of laughs, a good amount of information and a lot fun. We hope you can join us there!

A Look at the 2nd Annual Youth SummitBy Alex Brown

The Youth Leadership WordsearchCan you find the word associated with Youth Leadership?

There are 15 words hidden in the puzzle below. S S E D E R I L D I O P N I A D V O C A C Y I G L C L PC P O D N U R N N I L L E ND R I H E S P I H S D R A HN D S D D D D T P C S D D TA R T I N A I I I E I I E GB I R N E R B C V S D V R ND G O L P N Y E A G P I S EN R P S E S R B G T U E H RN O P D D A I E I A I Y I TN W U D N L T E E H R O P SD I S C I P L I N E A U N AT N E T N P I E T S R T O YI G Y T I R U T A M G H E C

Advocacy Dedication CourageDisability Discipline GrowingHardships Independence LeadershipLeading Maturity PerseveranceStrength Supports Youth

Youth Summit Here We Come

Hi! I am Matt Zebroski. I am 22 years old and I have a visual impairment known as Retinitis Pigmentosa. This means I have a small field of vision and can see very little in low light and at night. I also have learning disabilities. Even though this is my second year on the FYC, this will be the first time I have attended the Youth Summit. I am looking forward to meeting Josh Sundquist. I am interested in hearing about what he has accomplished in his life. I think it will inspire

By Matt Zebroski

me to challenge myself and try new things.I am looking forward to seeing my

old friends and meeting new people. I am excited about leading small groups and hearing what my peers have to offer. I don’t care much for dancing, but I enjoy music, so Saturday night should be a lot of fun. Let’s all have a great time and share some good ideas.

The Annual Youth Summit is Action Packed!By Sara Romine

Last year the Florida Youth Council’s 1st Annual Youth Summit was ACTION PACKED! Everyone was engaged and actively participated in the activities! It was a wonderful time to meet new friends and learn together. We participated in team building activities, arts and crafts, music, dancing and had fun hanging out with friends. Plus we learned a lot about being advocates and leaders from each other and from our motivational speaker.

One of my favorite activities, which will forever remind us of our first summit, was the arts and craft activity. Everyone de-scribed themselves creatively by decorating their own tile. We put the tiles all together

and made a beautiful mosaic! That reminds me, even though we are all different and unique – together we make a beautiful team!

This year’s Youth Summit will be even more exciting! We have so many activities planned that we can’t list them all! Our guest speaker and author, Josh Sundquist will make us laugh as he shares his hilarious perspective on his own life experiences. At the summit, our days will be filled with fun: team building and cool activities that will help us grow as individuals and leaders. The part of the summit I am most looking forward to is the dance party on Saturday. That’s the perfect time to kick off your shoes and have fun with your new friends!

All About the 1st Annual Youth Summit!

After months and months of antici-pation, it had finally arrived: The first day of The 1st Annual Youth Summit was when we would get to see every-one trickle in! We had put together a weekend of l e a d e r s h i p , workshops, and new friends. It was a bit of a test drive – but I think it became a solid success.

S i n c e early 2008, we had been putting together speak-ers, presenta-tions, our food menu . . . every-thing! The FYC even took a tour of the hotel we picked, just to make sure it was accessible enough for our liking. It was truly a team effort. When the Summit started, I thought it was really neat to see the volumes of young people

who came out from all over Florida. Over 130 (I don’t even think I know 130 people!) were there to see the keynote Greg Smith, color the Awareness tiles, learn about the issues and dance the night away. I would have to say the breakout sessions

were my favorite. I got to see some fairly shy young people break out of their shell and ask some great questions and participate. I also learned a lot myself about a range of top-ics, like how to main-tain a healthy “sugar balance.” Whitney and I still try to fol-low the nutritionist’s advice! I also loved

the Dance at the end of the weekend; it was more enjoyable than I thought it would be. The really neat thing about the Summit was the atmosphere. Everyone was like a big family.

Hopefully this year we can all make it twice as nice as last year. See you in August!

By Carly Fahey

The Annual Youth Summit is an extremely special time. It’s where youth with dis-abilities are free to share whatever ideas they want without any censorship. My first year there was amazing. It was like working, hav-ing fun, and building empowerment all at the same time. The presenters were engaging and bestowed upon me valuable information for my life. It was definitely a total blast! To me, the Summit is an outlet to work on living with my disability. Since I can’t eliminate it in any way, shape, or form, I’ll just have to learn to adapt to it. This gathering of youth provides me with several opportunities to practice dealing with the difficulties that my disability causes in my life. I’m not a strong, demanding person, but the Summit taught me ways on how to advocate for what I need. Also, I’m not very good at talking to new people, but the Sum-mit gave me tips on how to be more social, so I’m able to do so. Although this might sound like work, it’s actually lots of fun. In

the long run, I’m definitely sure my efforts will pay off! At the AYS, I got to meet people who are just like me. Some of them even have the same disability. I was therefore more comfortable at the Summit because I felt like I was truly accepted for who I am. As a result, I shared my opinions on issues freely. I strongly recommend that all youth with disabilities attend the Annual Youth Summit. They will gain invaluable knowledge on how to better live their life and advocate for the resources and as-sistance they need. When it’s over, they will feel like a new person with a different outlook. All it takes is one trip and they’ll be hooked!! Together, we will learn how to make a difference in the world.

By Chris Regan

To many of us the Annual Youth Summit is the perfect time to meet new people and get the chance to be ourselves around people that won’t judge us. I have a little different view. The Annual Youth Summit to me is a time where youth can come together for two days and become a family.

The summit always has a big im-pact on the youth, especially their parents. Many parents says that their children have made a dramatic change in only two days. I know that the first time we had the Annual Youth Summit I wasn’t a delegate, but I can imagine what it might be like to be in their position and meet new people. At first for sure they might be nervous and not really be too outspoken, but I am pretty sure as people started doing activities together they loosened up.

The Annual Youth Summit to me means a time to recognize that we are not always alone when it comes to peer pressure and not knowing if someone can understand

us. We pull each other through the rough times. The picture that I imagine when someone mentions the AYS is a bunch of people with different disabilities working together to dodge the incoming bullets of life. The summit helps youth with disability learn how to cope with the bullets of life.

If the youth summit means this much to me, can you imagine how the youth feel when they come every year to learn something new? I just feel like the sum-mit makes a difference in people’s lives. I remember when I was younger and I didn’t have someone I could relate to and speak to about how I was feeling about being a person with a disability. But if I look at the smiles in these kids faces when they talk and interact with each other, it just brings a really nice feeling to me because I know that we are doing our job. I hope that by reading this you understand what the Youth Summit means to me. Have a great summer!!!

Youth Summit Here We Come

What the Annual Youth Summit Means to Me

By Cinthia Melgar

My first time at the Annual Youth SummitBy Josue Tapia Ortiz The Annual Youth Summit (AYS) is a once a year event, in which the disabled youth of Florida get to-gether to socialize, learn and discuss the issues which bother them in their everyday lives. We also get to see and meet the youth who listen to our issues and try to make a difference. They are called the Florida Youth Council. Well my first time as a visitor to the summit was a little optimistic. I went to the summit thinking that this is just another fundraiser that the govern-ment does to look good, but boy was I wrong. I met the most awesome people there! There were so many other youth

with disabilities there that I didn’t feel like an outcast, I actually felt cool because if you didn’t have a disability you were the outcast. I learned so much while I was there. I even learned about the Florida Youth Council. They put together a bill which made the first two weeks of October Disability Awareness weeks. I also learned that they were working on a project that would help youth better un-derstand their I.E.P. Man, I was so impressed I ended up joining them and now for The 2nd Annual Youth Summit I am a monitor for the event! All I can say are good things about this event, and trust me, if you give it a chance, it will be worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All about the 1st Annual Youth Summit

By Whitney Harris I had such a wonderful time at The 1st Annual Youth Summit! I got to branch out, connect with others, and do lots of surprisingly fun work. Even though the summit only lasted a few short days, I still have many fond memories of all of the cool people I met, which is one reason why my favorite part of the summit happened to be the networking. As a young leader with a dis-ability, I am always delighted to meet others like me from around the state. At the summit, I felt like I was able to meet someone from almost every city! I loved being able to swap stories there about how we are involved in our com-munities and spreading the word about the Florida Youth Council (FYC). Meeting people with a variety of other disabilities was very eye-opening. We laughed, we cried, and we all got to mingle and build each other up. I also really loved learning about different topics in each session. I attended as many as I could, and Carly (from FYC) and I even compared notes on the ride home! Every now and then, I use the

tips I learned in everyday life. Who knew that would happen?? The art project with the tiles was a great part of the summit as well. After all of the plan-ning and activity, we got to sit back, decorate, and channel our inner creativity. I thought our keynote Greg was spectacular. This 2nd year will be bigger, better, and full of young leaders once again. All of the FYC members got to take our feedback and improve the summit for 2009. I hope to meet more new friends, learn about more resources, bring out the leader in me and most of all have fun!

the NOODLEA Publication of the Florida Youth CouncilP.O. Box 15649Tallahassee, Florida 32317

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The Florida Youth Council is a program

of The Family Cafe

The Florida Youth Council is a group of youth (between the ages of 13 and 17) and emerging leaders (between the ages of 18 and 30) with disabilities or special health care needs that live in Florida.

The Florida Youth Council is all about getting youth and emerging leaders involved in self-advocacy, peer mentoring and other activities that will improve the quality of life for youth and emerging leaders with disabilities in Florida. The program empowers youth and emerging leaders to decide what issues are important to their generation, to express those issues in their state and local communities, and to develop strategies to solve them.

We are seeking a group of enthusiastic, motivated youth and emerging leaders to participate. If you would like to take a leadership role in advocating for youth and emerging leaders in Florida, please visit The Family Café website at www.familycafe.net and choose Florida Youth Council from the Main Menu. The program is open to application year round. We hope to hear from you soon!

How Do I Become Part of The Florida Youth Council?