Southeast Journeys Launches Club Program to Encourage Learning, Leadership, and Social Skills
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2025 8:38 am
Social clubs are an excellent way to get young people with Asperger’s, high-functioning autism, and learning disabilities involved in social activities they enjoy. Southeast Journeys, a semester-long school program for adolescents ages 13-17 with Asperger’s syndrome, high-functioning autism, nonverbal learning disorder, and similar disorders, recently launched a club program to enhance students’ social and life skills.
The students at Southeast Journeys participate in clubs one hour per week, organized into groups of seven or eight boys and girls of varying ages and backgrounds. The following is a sampling of the clubs offered at Southeast Journeys.
Yearbook Club. Members of the yearbook club plan, organize, phone number data design the school’s yearbook each semester. Student activities range from taking photographs around campus and on off-campus trips to seeking advertisements from local organizations in the community. In past years, the students have created a DVD yearbook, made up of a slideshow of photographs of each student and staff member as well as shots of the memorable activities that occurred throughout the semester. The school also hosts contests that allow students to design their own yearbook cover, complete with a quotation, title, and drawing, with one lucky winner receiving his picture on the cover. Yearbook club is a great way to memorialize the Southeast Journeys experience and learn photography, writing, and organizational skills that can be used in life beyond Southeast Journeys.
Wilderness Club. Wilderness club is designed for students with an affinity for the great outdoors. In addition to the week-long experiential learning trips and wilderness adventures that all Southeast Journeys students enjoy, students in wilderness club spend an extra hour each week learning how to live in nature.Beginning with a variety of educational sessions on safety skills, cooking over a campfire, staying warm and dry, and other primitive skills, students then participate in hands-on explorations in the field, play games, and get to know other students who are passionate about the wilderness. Through the wilderness club experience, students are even more prepared and excited to participate in the school’s off-campus trips.
Cooking/Gardening Club. This club gives students an opportunity to learn about healthy living through hands-on experience in the garden and in the kitchen. From table manners, safety skills, and food handling and preparation to the basics of operating a dishwasher and setting the table, students in cooking/gardening club learn their way around the kitchen, with direction and oversight from the school’s kitchen manager. During the warmer months, students help grow their own herb and vegetable garden, participating in soil cultivation, weeding, and harvesting crops which can be used in preparing meals for the entire student body.
“We take a strength-based approach that honors our students’ special interests while also introducing them to new activities and people,” says Zack Eden, who helps coordinate the club program at Southeast Journeys. “These clubs give them a chance to express themselves, explore their special talents and abilities, and apply the life skills they’ve learned at school.”
The students at Southeast Journeys participate in clubs one hour per week, organized into groups of seven or eight boys and girls of varying ages and backgrounds. The following is a sampling of the clubs offered at Southeast Journeys.
Yearbook Club. Members of the yearbook club plan, organize, phone number data design the school’s yearbook each semester. Student activities range from taking photographs around campus and on off-campus trips to seeking advertisements from local organizations in the community. In past years, the students have created a DVD yearbook, made up of a slideshow of photographs of each student and staff member as well as shots of the memorable activities that occurred throughout the semester. The school also hosts contests that allow students to design their own yearbook cover, complete with a quotation, title, and drawing, with one lucky winner receiving his picture on the cover. Yearbook club is a great way to memorialize the Southeast Journeys experience and learn photography, writing, and organizational skills that can be used in life beyond Southeast Journeys.
Wilderness Club. Wilderness club is designed for students with an affinity for the great outdoors. In addition to the week-long experiential learning trips and wilderness adventures that all Southeast Journeys students enjoy, students in wilderness club spend an extra hour each week learning how to live in nature.Beginning with a variety of educational sessions on safety skills, cooking over a campfire, staying warm and dry, and other primitive skills, students then participate in hands-on explorations in the field, play games, and get to know other students who are passionate about the wilderness. Through the wilderness club experience, students are even more prepared and excited to participate in the school’s off-campus trips.
Cooking/Gardening Club. This club gives students an opportunity to learn about healthy living through hands-on experience in the garden and in the kitchen. From table manners, safety skills, and food handling and preparation to the basics of operating a dishwasher and setting the table, students in cooking/gardening club learn their way around the kitchen, with direction and oversight from the school’s kitchen manager. During the warmer months, students help grow their own herb and vegetable garden, participating in soil cultivation, weeding, and harvesting crops which can be used in preparing meals for the entire student body.
“We take a strength-based approach that honors our students’ special interests while also introducing them to new activities and people,” says Zack Eden, who helps coordinate the club program at Southeast Journeys. “These clubs give them a chance to express themselves, explore their special talents and abilities, and apply the life skills they’ve learned at school.”