Late this spring we determined to bring challenge recreation back for our students. We set it aside for over a year for reasons of social distancing, etc. First, We arranged to go whitewater rafting in Idaho Springs, where we’d gone for almost ten years, and it was great to be back on Clear Creek with some old friends!
Meanwhile, martin Becerrra-Miranda was tasked with finding a new company to guide our Independence Training Program students on rock climbing excursions.
“I think these guys might be the ones,” Martin said after talking with Dan Krug of Denver Climbing Co. “They just get it.”
His reasoning was sound. Dan K told Martin he started rock climbing to address his own anxiety.
“I felt trapped (by anxiety) until I discovered rock climbing” says Dan. “It provided me with an avenue to push my limits in a controlled environment with supportive people. These factors acted as mental scaffolding to provide support as my brain relearned my actual potential and ability. I remember this with every client I take rock climbing and recreate the circumstances that helped me.”
Bring the whole family and #comerunwithus #6dotdashco. You can 
These Denver high school students, Deya and Alma were two of the dozen middle school to college prep students who experienced all the sensory data of a spiny dog shark when they opened one up today at the Center. Well, except for taste. Thanks again to Arapahoe Community College’s Biology Professor Terry Harrison for leading these blind students through a meaningful lesson about anatomy – a lesson with the side benefit of learning that vision isn’t the only sense with which to do real science!
Brian organized the scuba experience at A-1 Scuba in Littleton. A certified diver himself, he found satisfaction in sharing the sport he loves with his friends and fellow Center students.
It’s yet another sign of spring when the Arapahoe County Master Gardeners first arrive to work with our students in the Legacy Garden. Of course, everything starts with getting the soil ready for planting and, after our spring rains, that means pulling out the eager weeds already leaping up. Tyler, Annette, Abdi, Tucker and Brad took first crack at it on Tuesday. Next week planting begins!
Here are a couple of pics taken this morning at the Dirt Coffee Bar in downtown Littleton. Dirt is a nonprofit operation dedicated to employment for people with Autism and we knew we had a lot of values in common when they called us to ask about Braille menus and board games for the shop a month before it opened. There’s nothing like a Braille menu!