SPECIAL OLYMPICS PROJECT UNIFY LA SALLE’S YOUTH ACTIVATION COMMITTEE Jonathan Koehler, Lauren Busteed, Katherine Garrahy, Ava Souza, Julia Buben, Connor Ferreira, Elise Papazian and Ainsley Burns

PURPOSE OF LA SALLE’S YOUTH ACTIVATION COMITTEE  To in association with Special Olympics Rhode Island and the Project Unify  Unite the intellectually challenged community with their peers to create one community where everyone embraces each other’s differences in a positive way rather than in a negative way.  Raise awareness of the derogatory use of the “R-word” in the LaSallian and Rhode Island communities.  Special Olympics Youth Activation Committees in High Schools statewide are each assigned a unique way to benefit Project Unify community and communication  La Salle’s assignment as the fourth division was to communicate and raise awareness of Project Unify through community and communication.

WHAT WE DID TO COMMUNICATE PROJECT UNIFY TO RHODE ISLAND  Social Media publicity  Youth Activation Committee Forum Presentation  Spread the Word to End the Word Campaign at LaSalle Academy  Monthly newsletters to promote the progress of Youth Activation Committees around the state

THE T-SHIRT GRANT  In order for us to get the money to buy the R Word t-shirts we had to apply for a grant through Special Olympics RI.  This required us to answer a series of questions  We will now pass around copies of our grant proposal

PICTURES OF R WORD DAY AT LASALLE

R-WORD CAMPAIGN AT LA SALLE ACADEMY MARCH 19 TH, 2014  Purpose: to raise awareness to the La Sallian community that the R word is hurtful and unnecessary  This is especially important at La Salle because we do not have intellectually challenged students in our community and do not have much exposure to this issue  How it worked:  The morning before, prayer and a video was shown to all students to raise awareness of unifying all of God’s people regardless of their differences  Banner at all Lunches  T shirts provided at all lunches to those who proved they were following Special Olympics Rhode Island on facebook, twitter and/or instagram.

R WORD CAMPAIGN CONT. 7

SIGNING THE BANNER “I PLEDGE!” 8

PROMOTING SOCIAL MEDIA  Youth Activation Forum  Providing QR Codes on handouts increased number of followers by 60 people  Spread the Word to End the Word Campaign at LaSalle Academy  Received free t-shirts for following on Instagram and Twitter or liking on Facebook  Twitter: SORhodeIsland  Facebook: Special Olympics Rhode Island  Instagram: specialolympicsri

SOCIAL MEDIA  Creation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Pages  Facebook  Twitter (nearly 950 followers)  Instagram (nearly 200 followers since November 2013)

SPECIAL OLYMPICS 5K AND 3K  Where: Colt State Park, Bristol RI  When: Saturday, May 10th 2014  What: it is a 5k or 3k walk/run and all the proceeds go to Special Olympics Rhode Island.  Cost: 5K- $25 3K- $15 11

POLAR PLUNGE 12

A GREAT YEAR  We have loved working with Special Olympics this year and we will continue to support this amazing organization! 13

ANY QUESTIONS? 14