A Lifetime in Three Weeks

Catching up on CLE Summer Exploration Program, 2018

By Levi Noe, Assistant Coordinator and Newsletter Manager, CLE Denver

Picture someone you know—maybe it’s your son or a daughter, a friend, a student you’ve worked with—17 years old, seventy feet in the air (in addition to the 10,000 foot elevation), suspended on a ropes course. This person isn’t someone you’d call an outdoors type, he or she is also not someone you’d normally identify as being particularly open to new situations; and thrill-seeking is definitely not on this student’s list of behavior traits. Yet, somehow, there that student is, pushing her or his physical limits, facing fears, rising up to meet challenges. Yes, he might be screaming the whole time. Yes, she may come down and say she never wants to leave the ground again. But, the point is, this happened. It happened many times over, in many different ways.

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

program. Whatever that particular moment was that brought about change, each and every one of our 30 students had it—big or small, whether it was a baby step or a life altering event, each moment mattered.

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.

Our students got a chance to step right up to the edge of the limits of their independence and see past to the peaks and valleys of adulthood beyond. An invaluable experience, we were so happy to have watched the growth of these students in just three weeks time. It’s unbelievable, really, words aren’t enough to speak to the amazing unfoldings and the light years of movement. To see Jesse take on the climbing wall and reach the top, ringing the cowbell proudly and shouting out “YES!” To see the shy smile bloom on Isaac’s face when he received a shout out of recognition from his peers. To see Rashida show no mercy in a laser tag game, when just the night before she had barely managed to come out of her room.

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.