Teen volunteer Sky Varvarosky has been able to try new things and learn more about people with disabilities at Youth Challenge. She first learned about YC through her Mayfield High School chemistry teacher, Bob Friel. (Bob is the husband of YC staffer Lisa Friel!)

“He made it sound like a fun place with all different activities,” Sky said.

Sky jumped right in trying different YC activities along with her participant partners! When Sky was at Wicklife Lanes, she and her partner had a lot of fun bowling together, and Sky even scored a strike! She was a natural in spite of it being her first time bowling and first time at YC. When she came to rock climbing in Shaker Heights, Sky and her partner were both able to encourage each other to climb to the top of the wall. Most recently, Sky volunteered at Art & Games with a Service-Learning group through her school and got to work with her partner to build a robot out of boxes.

Sky said volunteering at YC is a different experience than volunteering at other locations, such as a food bank, because at YC you can get to know the people you are serving. Sky loves to build friendships with participants, including Jack, a deaf participant who uses his phone to help him communicate.

“It just shows you that people can do anything, as long as you don’t expect them to do it the same way as everyone else,” Sky said.

Sky values being able to help make Youth Challenge a safe place for her participant friends.

“It’s just a nice place for everyone to go to feel included and have a fun time and take your mind off things,” Sky said. “People don’t treat you differently or meanly because you’re not the same as everyone else.”