by Deborah Cavanagh
Today was an exciting experience for campers, family members, nurses, personal assistants and volunteers. Our five campers filmed a news broadcast at the YNN Studios with Jason Benetti. Leo was our anchor and introduced each segment with grace and excitement. Prior to cameras rolling Leo and Jason bantered back and forth as to who was going to go first. Then all heard, “Welcome to CHAT News, I’m Leo. We have breaking news and our own Matt has been on the scene.” Roving Reporter Matt started his segment, “I am live at the Burton Blatt Institute on the campus of Syracuse University where CHAT Camp is happening this week.” Jason interjected there was rumor that a multi winner Bingo game occurred where camper yelled “Bingo” at exactly the same time. Crazy happenings on the hill. Leo next introduced Makenna to give the daily weather report. Makenna was able to film her segment in the weather room with the assistance of YNN Meteorologist Vanessa Richards. Makenna reported, “It is going to be hot and we will have floods.” Scary weather afoot, but Makenna was not nervous reporting this at all. Keep us all calm Makenna! Vanessa then assured us that the weather would turn calm after the floods had past. Phew! Leo moved the broadcast along, “Let’s go to Addi for her news on the world of entertainment.” Addi shared, “It was Music Fun Day at CHAT camp on Tuesday with Rachel Mosher, where campers sang song, played instruments, and rocked out.” Jason assured all watching that the CHAT Idol tour would be coming to a local venue soon and tickets will surely go fast. Finally Leo sent the broadcast over to Graham for sports news. Graham started his report with Sports Day, “On Tuesday SU Football players Clay Cleveland and Jarrod West discussed the upcoming football season. Campers played lots of gym games. Addi enjoyed the parachute game. Leo kept running over cones and making everyone laugh. Matt showed us his big arm!” Leo then closed the broadcast with “For everyone at CHAT News, I’m Leo, keep chatting!” Great Job everyone!!! While the campers were in front of the big lights the parents had their session at YNN as well. They were first shown a video presentation by Rupal Patel, of Northeastern University which relayed current research into the making of personalized synthetic voices. Currently there are limited voice choices available. What that means is if 25 AAC users are in a room it is likely that half will be using the same voice, no matter what their age. Everybody deserves their own unique voice! This is exciting and will hopefully be available soon. Parents also participated in a Q & A led by Jason Benetti. And finally were shown the lovely and much needed respite opportunities from David’s Refuge. Warren Pfohl, and his wife Brenda, founded David’s Refuge as a place of respite for parents and guardians of children with special needs and extreme medical conditions. David’s Refuge allows parents and other caregivers much needed time to rest, reflect and recharge from the stress of full time care giving. Warren explained that they have multiple Bed and Breakfasts in the area that participate. For more info about David’s Refuge please visit http://davidsrefuge.org/. Not one parent moved at the end of two hours. Bonds have been formed from shared experiences and learning. One parent asked how they could all stay connected. He did not want this experience to end. Tomorrow brings the CHAT Celebration at Drumlins. We will celebrate all that has been CHAT Camp and all that is to come. See you there!