TROY – Troy University will become home to about 25 high school students with disabilities June 11-15 when it hosts the Alabama Governor’s Youth Leadership Forum.

The Forum is co-sponsored by the University’s Institute for Leadership Development, the Alabama Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities and the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, and will include large- and small-group discussions of topics ranging from self-support to the challenges of leadership.

“YLF brings young people from all over the state to the Troy Campus -- young people who are blind, deaf or wheelchair-bound attend this week of leadership training,” said Dr. John Kline, the Institute for Leadership Development’s director. “We focus on teambuilding, relationship skills, and teaching them how to be advocates for themselves and others with disabilities.”

The Forum is funded through a cooperative effort of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, the Alabama Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, the Department of Rehabilitation Services, the Jefferson County Commission and the University.

“Troy University is again pleased to cooperate with the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services in sponsoring this very worthwhile youth leadership forum,” said TROY Chancellor Jack Hawkins Jr. “It’s truly a beneficial conference because it helps these students better cope with the world around them and it exposes them to our family at TROY.”

Dr. Kline said that former YLF delegates routinely serve as staff members and that several are now TROY graduates.

“One of our goals is to show kids that they can achieve things even with a disability,” he said. “Some of these students have never been away from home before; this is a great opportunity for them to have new experiences.”

###