(Oneida and Madison County, NY – Sept. 2015) Nearly 100 high school seniors from across the Madison-Oneida BOCES region gathered in Verona recently to participate in a unique nationwide youth leadership summit.
The full-day teen summit, S2 Success Summit: Life Without Limits, was held live in Colorado and simultaneously broadcast out to 120 locations in 31 states and two foreign countries. The Rossetti Education Center was one of those locations. This was the first time such an event has been held.
The summit itself featured presentations by several nationally-known speakers relevant to teens, including Patty Kennedy, Kevin Bracy and Jared Campbell. MOBOCES broadcast five speakers who were addressing tens of thousands of teens in a packed ice hockey arena.
The event was emceed by Dave Gamache, founder of Character University and a native of the Binghamton region, and kicked off with a presentation by S2 Success Summit founder Mark Hoog, who has previously presented in the Mohawk Valley. Hoog offered a shout-out to “Upstate New York and Syracuse” in his welcome remarks before addressing the students on achieving their dreams. Have self-confidence in yourself and in your goals,” he said. “Recognize your own value.”
Before the summit officially opened, MOBOCES hosted some team-building and leadership development activities for participating students. Working in mixed-school groups, students had to brainstorm different leadership qualities and share their ideas with the group. Other group and team-building activities were held during the day between speakers.
Participating students were from: Camden, Canastota, Hamilton, Madison, Morrisville-Eaton, Oneida, Rome, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, New York State School for the Deaf’s Rome campus, and MOBOCES Career and Technical Education and Alternative and Special Education programs.