Last weekend I got to meet a You-Tube kid star Kid President. I learned that Kid President was adopted and his real name is Robby. Robby Novak has become known to the world as ‘Kid President,’ an online YouTube sensation spreading a message about how people can “make the world more awesome.”

In videos, he wears a signature black suit and red tie, looking very presidential. But take away the president from Kid President, and he’s just a typical 9-year-old “kid” – who also happens to have a rare brittle bone disease known as osteogenesis  imperfecta (OI). Basically, he breaks easily.

Osteogenesis imperfecta, a lifelong, chronic condition, affects between 25,000 and 50,000 adults and children in theUnited States. It’s a rare genetic bone disease characterized by a lack of normal collagen needed to form strong bones. The result is frequent bone fractures, sometimes for no apparent reason. There are different degrees of OI, ranging from a neonatal type, often fatal, to a very mild type that can be underdiagnosed. To see even an adult like this, makes some people feel helpless, but they aren’t helpless. You can’t cure OI, you can only help it become less of a problem for the person. I went to the camp because my brother has the same thing Kid President has, OI. I thought it was inspiring to meet Kid President because in my class at Valley Mills Elementary we have been watching his videos, and my entire class thinks he is so awesome.

Not every kid gets to have a brother like mine, and not every kid will get to meet Robby, I know I am lucky. The most inspiring part was just seeing and meeting Robby. The camp was called   CCK (Center for Courageous Kids). At the camp, different kids in the different lodges do activates like horseback riding, archery, woodshop, arts and crafts, music room, bowling, video game room. One of the cool things we did was the camp was watch the movie Epic while it was projected on the gym wall. Also, at the gym we played two on two basketball with Kid President. Another thing was the D.J. let different girls sing on the microphone.

The first thing that everybody asked me when I got back to school about Kid President was does his voice sound just like it does in the videos! So even though I didn’t get to meet a You Tube star for very long, I did get to meet him and get my picture taken!

I thought that I was just lucky, but then I realized that I wasn’t lucky,  I was just being a big brother to Tollsyn..

 Collyn is a 5th grader at Valley Mills Elementary in Indiana, where he is diving in to project-based learning.