Special Olympics Generation Unified Summit
Hi my name is Cameron Krisko, I’m the founder of Making Waves Winnipeg. Making Waves Winnipeg is a not-for-profit student initiative founded as a registered chapter of Making Waves Canada in 2011. Our mission is to provide affordable and accessible one-on-one swimming instruction to children with special needs. Over the four years we have developed a great relationship with Special Olympics Manitoba.
This past week I had the pleasure of attending the Special Olympics Generation Unified Summit on behalf Special Olympics Canada & Special Olympics Manitoba. In the last six days in Los Angeles, I have met some of the most amazing young leaders that I am now proud to call friends. These new friends come from over 30 countries around the world. The goal of the summit has been to empower youth to improve the lives of those living with an intellectual disability through inclusion & sport. We started out on our first two days at the Mattel Headquarters in LA. They were wonderful hosts! Activities at Mattel included leadership development and working on our commitment to social change. My highlight at Mattel was hearing from Tim Shriver, SOI Chairman & son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver (founder of Special Olympics). Saturday was the opening ceremonies at the LA Coliseum. For those of you who watched it, you know just how powerful that night was! I had chills the entire time with speeches from Jamaal Charles (Kansas City Chiefs), Tim Harris (Tims Place) & Michelle Obama. The remainder of the weekend, we joined the Doha Goals Forum, that looks at how sport can help change the world. The line up of speakers for this portion of the conference was unbelievable! This included, Abby Wombach (US Soccer), Rick Hansen, Carl Lewis and Michael Phelps, to name a few. Finally, this evening I was fortunate enough to attend the Special O Canada reception at the Consul Generals residence. I met some Olympic Champions (from Canada), as well as meeting many Team Canada & Manitoba athletes. I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to learn and grow alongside these amazing leaders over the last 6 days.
Special Olympics Impact Summit VIDEO
