Leadership event builds links with special needs students

The school’s Leadership class is usually in the team room or ASB room making posters, debriefing events or planning upcoming fundraisers. However, on Oct. 25, the students were out in the quad interacting with students from the Community Based Introduction (CBI) program.

The CBI social was planned by a group in the Leadership class dedicated to events such as blood drives, student of the month recognition events and the annual Speak Up For Change week.

Junior Stacey Chen said the event was recommended by activities director Matt Torrens. “We see these students a lot in the hallways but never get to know them,” Chen added. “Through this experience we allowed the heads of the school to get to talk with them and feel more at home on campus.”

At the event, members of the class socialized with the CBI students through numerous games and presents. The event included board games, origami, sports, root beer floats and even specialized gift boxes for each student.

For these students, simple social activities can be extremely hard, sophomore class secretary Nevin Prasad said.

“I got to see their struggles in life and it was interesting to see their hardships and how we can help them,” Prasad said. “It’s hard for them to communicate or understand social interactions so instead of treating them differently, we treated them just like anyone else to help them adjust. ”

For Leadership and CBI students alike, the event was a great success, CBI teacher Courtney Crase said.

“I think [working with the students] is an ongoing process and even though one day can’t make a major difference, it definitely did help,” Crase said. “I think the event also helped Leadership students to also understand how to interact with them, which helps both ways.“

Outreach is looking to host a similar get-together next semester.

“The event really embodied the leadership goal of helping the school all round,” Prasad said. “I personally have learned to talk to these students more throughout school and have made many new friends that I can connect with.”