Catching up on CLE Summer Exploration Program, 2018
By Levi Noe, Assistant Coordinator and Newsletter Manager, CLE Denver
It was not always a ropes course at the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center, which specializes in adaptive outdoor programming, that brought students to that point of growth, recognition or transformation. Sometimes it was getting up to give a speech in front of peers, staff and family and moving past the tremors of dread. Sometimes it was reaching out to a total stranger and saying a few words. Sometimes it was just laughing with friends and participating in a peer group that some students may have never had until this
The excitement, wildness and splendor that is the CLE Summer Exploration Program took place once again this year from June 25th to July 14th. There is nothing quite like this program, even year to year it’s so very different and unique with each fabulous group of 30 or so neurodiverse young adults. This year was no exception, students from all around the country (even a couple international students) came in for three of the most thrilling, challenging, and illuminating weeks of many of their lives.
We dove right in to this immersive college experience. Day one they were introduced to the beautiful and historic University of Denver campus. We took a trip on the light rail, mastering public transportation and visiting Union Station in Downtown Denver. The days were packed, starting bright and early with morning classes—college writing, career exploration, performance and acting, art appreciation. Afternoons involved some leisure time, clubs like health and fitness and drawing, and groups that focused on independent living skills and focus groups with our clinical director. Evenings were full of fun and adventure as students explored Denver and participated in nightly socials.
We are blessed every year with these individuals and their stories. To have shared in even this brief time with each one is a humbling experience. Thank you to our students for coming as they are, giving it everything they had and walking away at the end of their time with a new story to tell. Thank you to all of our staff who showed up, night and day and gave from the deepest parts of their being to these students. Thank you to all the parents for trusting us with your son or daughter. It’s no small thing, to see your young one open up to adulthood, to sit through those teary, homesick calls the first night. And then to arrive for their final celebration and your child won’t even sit with you because they’d rather be with their friends!
Thank you all for another great summer. Here’s to many more to come.