Celia's Early Years

As part of the Gold Award, I introduced physical disabilities to the whole Shoreham-Wading River Middle and High School student body by inviting the AMP 1 team to speak to them. The AMP1 team (a team of amputee basketball players) came to the school to talk about their disabilities, telling everyone to keep believing in themselves and Never Give Up, and to help raise money for my Gold Award by playing a game at the Middle School gym against SWR teachers and faculty. After I introduced them in front of the school, Scott Odom, the team captain, spoke about his experience and the experiences of his teammates. Later that evening, 30 minutes before game time, the gymnasium was empty but at exactly 7 pm, we needed to delay the start-time because the line was wrapped around the building to get in. The venue was over its limit of capacity, kids were sitting on the floor surrounding the whole court. The money raised helped to pay for the medical bills of a young man named Myles. Due to lack of insurance, Myles could not afford his prosthetic leg, our $4,700 was used to help him purchase his new leg. During my Gold Award experience, I encountered some tough challenges but I used my problem solving skills to get past them. Prior to the start of the AMP 1 game, we had a huge line out the door and we ran out of singles, so I figured out that we needed an exact change line to keep the singles flowing back to the cash box.There were a few other pre-game problems like the lack of teachers to play and volunteers to help out. By using my advanced technological skills, I sent out mass emails and produced informational flyers and recruited an abundant amount of volunteers as well as 15 members of the faculty as basketball players. I worked collaboratively for several months, with Megan, a Public Relations Representative of Freedom Innovations, the leading U.S. high technology provider of premium prosthetic devices and the sponsor of the AMP 1 team.