The Youth Summit is a day full of learning to help change the world around us. With hundreds of teens from across the county in attendance, TAB sought to teach people how to love. The day started out with a skit based on iCarly that tied into the theme of the day, which was “Where is the Love.” The skit included Sam and Carly disagreeing about mascot wrestling and finally realizing that it’s okay to have different opinions. Carly was played by Bailey Kernan of Canaseraga, Sam was played by Eryn Broshar of Belfast, and Freddie was played by David McIntosh of Canaseraga.

Following the skit, “Waiting on The World to Change” by John Mayer was performed by high school musicians from around the county. In the transition between the skit and the speaker, “Where is the Love” music video was played to help the teens really understand why they were there.

The speaker, Mark Chamberlain, was absolutely incredible. He is the pastor at the Genesis Church in Scio. He told the students about the importance of diversity, unity, love, and acceptance of others. These concepts are key to answering the question in the theme, and the answer is that the love is inside of us all.

After the speaker, the students broke into thirteen different workshops on topics like sportsmanship, creativity, recycling, self love, depression, and more.

As a six year TAB member, I was very happy to see my last Youth Summit go as well as it did. I’m happy to pass down the reins to all of the younger members because I know they have so much potential to do great things.