The first day of Youth Slam was both a surprise and a blast. From seeing old friends to meeting my new team, there was never a dull moment. My mentor, Harriet Go, began referring to me as Miss Popularity, to which I responded by telling her that seeing as I had been to the last Youth Slam in 2007, and because my state of Georgia had the most attendees, I knew more people than most.
That day was spent getting to know our teams, eating dinner, and hearing some thrilling welcome speeches by several notable NFB members including Mr. Mark Riccobono, Ms. Karen Zaknini, and the NABS president, Arielle Silverman. All of them were thrilled that the moments defining the Youth Slam had finally arrived.
After the welcome meeting, we went back to our dorms to have meetings with our dorm captains, after which we were dismissed to our rooms for bedtime preparations.
Some of the funny and interesting moments were the state roll calls, where Georgia was the largest and loudest. Also, our dorms have a Harry Potter theme. For example, I reside in Prince George’s Dorm, which, for this week, became known as Hufflepuff.
So, as the first day drew to a close, most of us went to bed with anticipation on the brain and excitement in our hearts.