2015 SADD Leadership Conference~ October 18, 2015
Kallet Theater, Oneida, New York
Undersheriff John Ball addressing the students at the start of the 2015 SADD Leadership Conference
The theme of the 2015 SADD Leadership Conference was “Unplugged is better!” presented by
Kelli O’Brien Corasanti, Owner of Studio 8 Fitness, Inc. a personal training and life
transformation studio in New Hartford. Seventy-two participants from eight local high schools
gathered to hear Kelli present about how we can't connect with others if we're always plugged
in to our electronic devices. She explained the negative impact of too much cell phone use on
our posture, our brains, our relationships, and our health. In addition, she talked about what it
means to be a leader and how to develop leadership skills. Through the presentation and
experiential exercises, that got the students out of their seats and working with each other, the
students and their advisors were able to gain knowledge and skills that they will apply to the
action plans they formulated for their schools.
Some comments from the conference“Liked being able to get together and come up with ways to make our school better”.
“Liked the interactions, you didn’t just sit there the whole time, you got up and talked to others
and worked with them”.
“Favorite part was when the students shared that they really like being here and the energy
and enthusiasm as they drafted the beginning to an action plan”.
SADD is a peer-to-peer education, prevention, and activism organization dedicated to
preventing destructive decisions, particularly underage drinking, other drug use, risky and
impaired driving, teen violence and teen suicide.
STOP DWI New York, the sponsor of the conference, has a mission to reduce alcohol and other
drug-related traffic crashes, promote DWI prevention as a public priority and coordinate local
efforts in Law Enforcement, Prosecution, Probation, Rehabilitation, Public Information,
Education and Administration.
Elise Spinelli, the Prevention Education Coordinator for STOP DWI and Prevention Education
Specialist at BRiDGES, organized the conference and will provide support to the schools and
students as they implement their action plans.