- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
There is a nice long article in Blades on Ice this month about American Idol singer Clay Aiken. Aiken recently took part in a special skating show to raise money for his charitable foundation, the Bubel Aiken Foundation.
Clay's charity is involved in providing opportunities for children who are disabled or have special needs to participate in sports programs alongside other children. Clay has a degree in special education from the University of North Carolina. He says that he became interested in serving in this way when, as a boy, he saw special needs children who had to be turned away from various YMCA programs because the Y did not have adequate staff and facilities to accomodate them. The program (Skate with Clay) was put on in parallel with the Skate with the Hurricanes charity fundraiser organized by the Carolina Hurricans hockey team.
Clay got to meet Kristi Yamaguchi and her baby Keara (for pictures of Kristi and Keara, see BOI pages 10 and 11 )
Several skaters are quoted about how much they like Clay's singing, including Michael and Lisa Weiss, Shizuka Arakawa (favorite Clay song: "Invisible") and Sasha Cohen (but she's "more into hip hop music than pop.")
Clay also is pictured with Sarah Hughes and her family backstage at an IA concert. There was a big argument between Clay and Kelly Clarkson about who was a bigger fan of figure skating, LOL.
Mathman
Clay's charity is involved in providing opportunities for children who are disabled or have special needs to participate in sports programs alongside other children. Clay has a degree in special education from the University of North Carolina. He says that he became interested in serving in this way when, as a boy, he saw special needs children who had to be turned away from various YMCA programs because the Y did not have adequate staff and facilities to accomodate them. The program (Skate with Clay) was put on in parallel with the Skate with the Hurricanes charity fundraiser organized by the Carolina Hurricans hockey team.
Clay got to meet Kristi Yamaguchi and her baby Keara (for pictures of Kristi and Keara, see BOI pages 10 and 11 )
Several skaters are quoted about how much they like Clay's singing, including Michael and Lisa Weiss, Shizuka Arakawa (favorite Clay song: "Invisible") and Sasha Cohen (but she's "more into hip hop music than pop.")
Clay also is pictured with Sarah Hughes and her family backstage at an IA concert. There was a big argument between Clay and Kelly Clarkson about who was a bigger fan of figure skating, LOL.
Mathman
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