Special Olympics Kentucky will host an Eastern Regional Youth Summit on Monday, Nov. 21, in the Perkins Center at Eastern Kentucky University.

The Youth Summit, which is part of the Special Olympics Kentucky Unified Champion Schools Program, will bring together students, administrators, teachers and aides to learn more about creating school communities that are inclusive of students with intellectual disabilities.

Activities will be led by Special Olympics staff, Special Olympics Kentucky Education Leadership Network committee members and Kentucky State Youth Activation Committee members.

Nearly 80 students from Tates Creek High School, East Carter High School, West Carter High School, East Carter Middle School, West Carter Middle School, Madison Central High School and Ryle High School will participate in the summit.

It’s the second Youth Summit Special Olympics Kentucky has held this year. A statewide Youth Summit was held in Louisville in March. A Western Regional Youth Summit is scheduled for Bowling Green in early 2017.

“We’re excited to have the opportunity to host events like the Youth Summit, and we’ve been encouraged by the response from school systems statewide,” said Justin Harville, Special Olympics Kentucky Director of Volunteer and Program Services. “We see our schools becoming more inclusive of people with disabilities every day and we want to do everything we can to help that process. There is no better way to do that than to help teach the most important part of that process — the students themselves — how to lead that charge.”

The Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program is a comprehensive effort to build stronger, more inclusive school communities through a program that includes Unified Sports, whole school engagement activities and youth leadership at the individual school level.

For more information about the East Regional Youth Summit, or about the Unified Champion Schools Program, contact Justin Harville at 502-695-8222 or [email protected].