Largo High Student to Receive International Yes I Can Award

Jeremy Keyser, a freshman at Largo High School, will receive a 2017 Yes I Can Award from the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) on April 21 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. The Yes I Can program recognizes the accomplishments of 12 students with exceptionalities in six categories: academics, arts, school and community activities, self-advocacy, technology, and transition. CEC will honor Keyser with an award for self-advocacy.

Keyser has greatly impressed his teachers for many years. He went from reading at a fourth-grade level at the end of sixth grade to achieving the A/B Honor Roll during both years of middle school. He also made excellent progress in math and improved his classroom participation.

In addition, Keyser is an advocate for raising awareness about students with disabilities. Every year, he helps his mother present about students with disabilities at the Great American Teach-In. He’s created a similar presentation to explain his disabilities to his classmates. In 2011, Jeremy was awarded a "dream"—to ride in the Goodyear Blimp—from the Children's Dream Fund. Since then, he has made several appearances to help raise money to fund other children's dreams. He has also worked to raise money for other organizations that help children with disabilities, including Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital and his parents' nonprofit, HUGS of Florida.