Clay Aiken worked at the YMCA before he started college in Charlotte. My scrapbook challenge for the day was to take a quote "Real Friends Don't Care if you are a Little Different" and make a layout. For some reason, the picture of Clay allowing the kids to duct tape him to the wall at the YMCA came to mind....let's face it, it takes a real friend and someone a little different (thank goodness) to allow a bunch of kids to do this. What a hoot.


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From Clay's book "Learning to Sing" about his YMCA days.

"The other counselors nicknamed me Gonzo because I was weird and I just did my thing. I wasn't afraid to make a fool out of myself. I might dress up as a gorilla - anything in order to do my job well."

"I didn't mind if the other teenagers who worked for me occasionally laughed at me. I believed that if the other counselors thought temselves too cool to play the game or be ridiculous in the skit, then they were missing out. Kids don't need lessons in cool. They need to have fun."

Kids know the "real deal" when they see it.

You can check out Clay's NY Times bestselling book at Amazon.com - Learning to Sing

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