SAY Confident Voices Blog

SAY developed its innovative Confident Voices After-School & Weekend program to help young people who stutter develop the confidence and courage they need to communicate more effectively, build a sense of community & establish rewarding friendships.

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As we head into Week 5 of our Confident Voices programming, we are proud to share this exceptional poem collaboratively written by The Song & Spoken Word Project participants in celebration of International Stuttering Awareness Day.

What Stuttering is

Stuttering, it's not messed up words it's...

Hard work

Expressing yourself

Trying your best

Interesting to experience

Sometimes it feels weird

You can't get your words out

Other people won't give you time

It's just around you

It's there, and it might be a friend, or a foe

For everyone it's different

But for you, it's unique

There are lots of ways to share the #ISAD spirit and spread stuttering awareness all year long. Visit say.org/isad2022 to check out some of our ideas...and feel free to let us know some of yours!

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As the grand finale to SAY’s Confident Voices 2021/2022 programming year, we are honored to give a special shoutout to the diligent and dauntless authors from The Paperback Project - Isabella Lashley, Antonio Otero & Reuben Polanco!

Three of our 2022 grads spent months pouring their hearts and imaginations into original paperback books, which were professionally bound and printed by SAY.  The authors’ incredible works pay homage to the creativity and power of people who stutter by responding to the question, “What is the story only you can tell?”

We were so lucky to experience these remarkable books at the Live Readings during our 2022 Graduation Celebration! Many thanks to our paperback writers for sharing their astounding work with us. All of the books from The Paperback Project 2022 (and 2021!) are now available for your reading pleasure at say.org/thepaperbackproject. Enjoy!

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A favorite moment from our Confident Voices Graduation Celebration was the premiere of this year's 'SAY Scroll', featuring our Class of 2022 answering the question, 'What advice do you have for young people who stutter?' We proudly present SAY's 2022 Graduating Class sharing their wisdom, encouragement, and their bold and unique voices with kids & teens who stutter everywhere! In the sage words of one of our grads, 'There's over 70 million people that stutter, so none of us are really alone.' We wish exciting, inspiring, and beautiful things for all of our 2022 SAY Graduates! Antonio, Elijah, Isabella, Reuben, Ricardo & Tyrese, always remember that you are SEEN, you are HEARD, and you are LOVED (so much!) by your SAY family.❤️

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We're so grateful to everyone who joined us at Open Jar Studios for SAY's Confident Voices Graduation Celebration on Monday evening. Having so many friends, families, teaching artists, and SAY alumni there to cheer on our grads made a wonderful occasion that much more special.

Congratulations again to SAY's Class of 2022: Antonio Otero, Elijah Haynes, Isabella Lashley, Reuben Polanco, Ricardo Saavedra, and Tyrese Reed. THANK YOU for sharing your courage, kindness, and your beautiful voices with us. As you move forward to new adventures and bright futures, we hope you’ll hold the admiration, pride, and love from your SAY family in your hearts forever...and carry it wherever you go.❤️

[sayconfidentvoices]

We're so grateful to everyone who joined us at Open Jar Studios for SAY's Confident Voices Graduation Celebration on Monday evening. Having so many friends, families, teaching artists, and SAY alumni there to cheer on our grads made a wonderful occasion that much more special.

Congratulations again to SAY's Class of 2022: Antonio Otero, Elijah Haynes, Isabella Lashley, Reuben Polanco, Ricardo Saavedra, and Tyrese Reed. THANK YOU for sharing your courage, kindness, and your beautiful voices with us. As you move forward to new adventures and bright futures, we hope you’ll hold the admiration, pride, and love from your SAY family in your hearts forever...and carry it wherever you go.❤️

[sayconfidentvoices]

We're so grateful to everyone who joined us at Open Jar Studios for SAY's Confident Voices Graduation Celebration on Monday evening. Having so many friends, families, teaching artists, and SAY alumni there to cheer on our grads made a wonderful occasion that much more special.

Congratulations again to SAY's Class of 2022: Antonio Otero, Elijah Haynes, Isabella Lashley, Reuben Polanco, Ricardo Saavedra, and Tyrese Reed. THANK YOU for sharing your courage, kindness, and your beautiful voices with us. As you move forward to new adventures and bright futures, we hope you will hold the admiration, pride, and love from your SAY family forever in your hearts...and carry it wherever you go. ❤️

#ConfidentVoices #confident voices #say confident voices #stuttering #stutter #graduation #class of 2022 #2022grad

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SAY's Confident Voices 2022 Graduation Ceremony is TONIGHT and you're invited!!! Please come and join us at 7:00 PM at Open Jar Studios in NYC to celebrate our extraordinary Class of 2022:⁠

Antonio Otero🔹Elijah Haynes🔹Isabella Lashley🔹Reuben Polanco🔹Ricardo Saavedra🔹Tyrese Reed

This very special occasion will include a Directors' Honoring Ceremony, The Paperback Project Live Readings, the debut of our 2022 'SAY Scroll', and other fantastic surprises!

There's still time to get your FREE tickets so visit say.org/programs/confidentvoices NOW to share in the fun! See you tonight at 7PM!

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SAY's Confident Voices SPRING MENTOR PROJECT In-Person Group Shares - June 12, 2022

Featuring the following Confident Voices participants: 

Geceila & Stephanie ⭐ John-Paul, Tyrese & Braylan ⭐ Evan, Kaiden & Corey ⭐ Luka & Josiah

Our NYC & Tri-State area Spring Mentor Project groups met up each week at Pearl Studios in Midtown Manhattan to connect, create, and collaborate on their own unique stories. The joy of being there LIVE for the In-Person Group Shares was second only to the incredible performances from our young people who stutter...and their Mentors!

[sayconfidentvoices]

SAY's Confident Voices SPRING MENTOR PROJECT In-Person Group Shares - June 12, 2022

Featuring the following Confident Voices participants:

Geceila & Stephanie ⭐ John-Paul, Tyrese & Braylan ⭐ Evan, Kaiden & Corey ⭐ Luka & Josiah

Our NYC & Tri-State area Spring Mentor Project groups met up each week at Pearl Studios in Midtown Manhattan to connect, create, and collaborate on their own unique stories. The joy of being there LIVE for the In-Person Group Shares was second only to the incredible performances from our young people who stutter...and their Mentors!

[sayconfidentvoices]

SAY's Confident Voices SPRING MENTOR PROJECT In-Person Group Shares - June 12, 2022

Featuring the following Confident Voices participants:

Geceila & Stephanie ⭐ John-Paul, Tyrese & Braylan ⭐ Evan, Kaiden & Corey ⭐ Luka & Josiah

Our NYC & Tri-State area Spring Mentor Project groups met up each week at Pearl Studios in Midtown Manhattan to connect, create, and collaborate on artistic pieces that tell their own unique stories. The joy of being there LIVE for the In-Person Group Shares was second only to the incredible performances from our young people who stutter...and their Mentors!

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It was so very special to hang with our Confident Voices community last weekend to revel in the SPRING MENTOR PROJECT Online Group Shares!

Here are just a few highlights of the creativity, camaraderie, and FUN that our phenomenal SAY participants brought to the Spring Mentor Project - and to each other - over the last 8 weeks. Huge thanks to our devoted Mentors and Teaching Artists for being there every step of the way with the guidance, encouragement, and love that helps these remarkable kids & teens who stutter to bring their artistic visions to life!

Be sure to visit say.org/confidentvoices-springmentorproject to see more awesome moments from our Online Group Shares. And stay tuned, we'll be back with highlights from the SPRING MENTOR PROJECT In-Person Group Shares very soon!

[sayconfidentvoices]

It was so very special to hang with our Confident Voices community last weekend to revel in the SPRING MENTOR PROJECT Online Group Shares!

Here are just a few highlights of the creativity, camaraderie, and FUN that our phenomenal SAY participants brought to the Spring Mentor Project - and to each other - over the last 8 weeks. Huge thanks to our devoted Mentors and Teaching Artists for being there every step of the way with the guidance, encouragement, and love that helps these remarkable kids & teens who stutter to bring their artistic visions to life!

Be sure to visit say.org/confidentvoices-springmentorproject to see more awesome moments from our Online Group Shares. And stay tuned, we'll be back with highlights from the SPRING MENTOR PROJECT In-Person Group Shares very soon!

[sayconfidentvoices]

It was so very special to hang with our Confident Voices community last weekend to revel in the SPRING MENTOR PROJECT Online Group Shares!

Here are just a few highlights of the creativity, camaraderie, and FUN that our phenomenal SAY participants brought to the Spring Mentor Project - and to each other - over the last 8 weeks. Huge thanks to our devoted Mentors and Teaching Artists for being there every step of the way with the guidance, encouragement, and love that helps these remarkable kids & teens who stutter to bring their artistic visions to life!

Be sure to visit say.org/confidentvoices-springmentorproject to see more awesome moments from our Online Group Shares. And stay tuned, we'll be back with highlights from the SPRING MENTOR PROJECT In-Person Group Shares very soon!

[sayconfidentvoices]

It was so very special to hang with our Confident Voices community last weekend to revel in the SPRING MENTOR PROJECT Online Group Shares!

Here are just a few highlights of the creativity, camaraderie, and FUN that our phenomenal SAY participants brought to the Spring Mentor Project - and to each other - over the last 8 weeks. Huge thanks to our devoted Mentors and Teaching Artists for being there every step of the way with the guidance, encouragement, and love that helps these remarkable kids & teens who stutter to bring their artistic visions to life!

Be sure to visit say.org/confidentvoices-springmentorproject to see more awesome moments from our Online Group Shares. And stay tuned! We'll be back with highlights from Confident Voices SPRING MENTOR PROJECT In-Person Group Shares very soon!

[sayconfidentvoices]

It's an exciting week for SAY's Confident Voices SPRING MENTOR PROJECT! As we head into a full weekend of Group Shares (Online AND In-Person!), here's a peek at some of the beautiful artwork created by our awesome kids & teens who stutter with their Mentors and Teaching Artists over the last 8 weeks!

We'll be back to bring you all the exciting highlights from this weekend's performances SOON, so keep an eye out. Meanwhile, visit say.org/programs/confidentvoices to learn more about SAY's Confident Voices programming, including the SPRING MENTOR PROJECT, and check out the blog to catch all the news!

[sayconfidentvoices]

It's an exciting week for SAY's Confident Voices Spring Mentor Project! As we head into a full weekend of Group Shares (Online AND In-Person!), here's a peek at some of the beautiful artwork created by our awesome kids & teens who stutter with their Mentors and Teaching Artists over the last 8 weeks!

We'll be back to bring you all the exciting highlights from this weekend's performances SOON, so keep an eye out. Meanwhile, visit say.org/programs/confidentvoices to learn more about SAY's Confident Voices programming, including the Spring Mentor Project, and check out the blog to catch all the news!

[sayconfidentvoices]

So much FUN getting together to enjoy the amazing stories and performances at SAY's Confident Voices Online: Winter Project FINAL SHARES last week!

We are super grateful, as always, to SAY's stellar Teaching Artists, staff, friends & families for joining us to experience the powerful art created by our awesome kids & teens who stutter during the 7 weeks of The Winter Project! Virtual standing ovations all around for the following Confident Voices Online participants:

Gavin & Khalid ⭐ Halen & Harlow ⭐ Dominic, Hunter & Milo ⭐ Danella, Jeanette Amira & Kwinn ⭐ Estefani, Liam & Travis ⭐ Austyn, Ethan Ka & Zayne ⭐ Daniel & Justin ⭐ Cate & Evan ⭐ Ava & Senai ⭐ Ethan Kr & Grace ⭐ Luka & Pablo ⭐ Declan, Gavin & Vinny ⭐ Geceila & Niaz ⭐ Devin, Giovanni & Samuel ⭐ Bennie ⭐ Abraham & Chauncey ⭐ Syeda ⭐ Dougie, Matthew & Spencer ⭐ Bryn, Olivia & Stephanie ⭐ Nayla & Yasmin ⭐ Blaize, Ethan & Trevor ⭐ Corey & Elijah ⭐ Ben, Cesar & Josiah ⭐ Dillone, Jack & Jaden ⭐ Awa & Maysen ⭐ Kat & Yasmin ⭐ Ariana, Airena & Dana

Confident Voices Spring programming will be here before you know it, so STAY TUNED for all the details and registration info, COMING SOON! In the meantime, we hope you'll love these highlights as much as we do. 📸