Cody will lead a Youth Innovation Project that expands upon this project, which started with just a few students and has now grown to fill an entire classroom! With the increase in students, Cody wants to make sure no one feels left out by providing all with the same opportunities to use games and electronics. Cody’s hope is that this game club will continue for years to come and provide a comfortable and accessible environment that facilitates positive interactions between peers.  

Over 6 months, Cody will continue the Unified Game Club and add more electronic gaming options for students to connect over that will be kept at the school for future students to use as well. Staff mentors for the project have already noticed that students are genuinely filled with joy and excitement when the game club meets, which will hopefully inspire youth to ask their peers to join (as many of them are already doing) and get more students engaged in the program. With this project, Cody is helping students with and without intellectual disabilities to learn and practice their social skills outside of the classroom, as well as practice self-regulation skills for winning and losing games. As a member of the Unified Generation, Cody believes this will develop long-lasting friendships because, as C.S. Lewis said, “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”