The following post was written by Delaney Setzler and Lisabeth Farris, a Special Olympics Unified pair from Special Olympics Michigan. In July of 2018, Delaney and Lisabeth attended the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle, Washington to participate in the Youth Leadership Experience (YLE). Along with Unified pairs from across the country, Delaney and Lisabeth were chosen for the YLE because of their leadership skills and passion for inclusion. Congrats on being named the #SOYouthOfTheWeek!

In July of 2018, we had the opportunity to attend the Youth Leadership Experience and represent Special Olympics Michigan at the 2019 Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle, Washington. The Youth Leadership Experience was an amazing program where we got to volunteer at the Games and learn how to expand Unified programming throughout our community. We volunteered at the Young Athletes festival, shadowed photographers for the Games, attended events, and interviewed Games spectators.

We took the information and ideas we gathered throughout the Games and applied them to our school. Since the Games, we have joined Special Olympics Michigan’s Youth Activation Committee and have taken steps to bringing more Unified activities to our school. We have organized three new Unified sports at our school to add to the Unified program, including Unified bowling, track, and bocce. The Youth Leadership Experience was very educational and inspiring to students in Unified Champion Schools, teaching us how to not only expand the program in our schools, but how we can educate our community on inclusion as well.