Meet the leaders
Adelaide
Hello! My name is Adelaide, and I live in Ontario, in the Niagara falls area. I am currently in grade 11. I love playing the violin, running, and doing volunteer work. I had the pleasure of attending my first CSA conference this year in Kingston. This is where I met my co-host, Maria. After my attendance, I have become more involved with the CSA. I developed my stutter towards the start of highschool; this is something that I’ve been told is rare. Consequently, this made the jump from elementary school to highschool more challenging. Through highschool, support for my speech was something that has been essential to my personal growth. I hope this group can be a tool to lift up and support others like me. Anyone from ages 12-18 is welcome to join, and we’d be grateful to have you!
Maria
Hi! My name is Maria, and I am a 16 year old, grade 10 student in the greater Ottawa area. I have been stuttering since I was two years old. I began running a workshop at the CSA annual conference for kids to learn about expressing themselves through different mediums, like music and graphic design around three years ago; all this was online, so I attended my first conference in-person in Kingston this year, where Adelaide and I met. Throughout the years, the thing that helped me the most with how I feel about my stutter has been community. Just having a safe space to talk about my stutter and to share my experiences has been monumental for my confidence and just how I feel about being a stutterer, so I hope that I can help provide a safe space for other teens along with my co-host, Adelaide. In my spare time, I love singing, and playing different instruments, as well as writing and kayaking.