The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) allows general education students to meet special education students and to build meaningful relationships.

Intervention Specialist and CEC co-adviser Nina Falkenstein believes the experience can be beneficial both for the special education students in her self-contained classroom as well as for the volunteers. 

The club can help her students to thrive both in the school and in the community.

“I have a passion for helping students with special needs not only within the school, but in the community,” she said. “It’s another way for me to help them reach their goals.”

Club members volunteer in the school’s special education classrooms and also participate in monthly meetings after school. In the fall they hosted yoga and music therapy events, which Falkenstein stated were extremely successful.

Sophomore Nina Hirano started volunteering with CEC this fall, and she enjoys being a part of the program. 

“I can understand the people I am helping,” she wrote in an email. “I feel happy when I do something for them and they return their smiles.”

Sophomore Mai Almunefi has been also volunteering with CEC since the fall. She chose to volunteer because of the relationships built in the club.

“I enjoy being with [special education students] in class, so I thought about joining this club to know more about them,” she wrote in an email.

Almunefi wrote that the most meaningful part of volunteering with the Council for Exceptional Children is “getting to know them and spending more time with them.”

Hirano and Almunefi both stated that they loved the yoga and music therapy events.

The club held a holiday game event on Dec. 11. Special ed students played with puzzles, bean bag toss and Nerf toys in group rotations while volunteers helped and got to know the special ed students.

Falkenstein explained that in previous years the club has gone on field trips. 

“We’ve gone to the movies, and [we’ve gone] bowling,” she said.

She also stated that the club is looking to do another field trip in the spring semester.

The club is focused on inclusivity and community building.

“[Co-adviser Josh] Davis and I have been consistent in how to meet students’ needs,” Falkenstein said. “One of the pieces that we also incorporate is education on how to communicate with [special-ed students].”

Falkenstein also said that she wants to be sure the special-ed students have a say in what the club does, as she wants to meet students’ needs and wants.

One major goal of the club is to make special ed students feel comfortable in the high school, as well as allowing general education students to learn from interactions with special needs students.

General ed students can also fulfill their 50-volunteer-hour requirement by participating in this club; however Falkenstein says the community building and outreach is ultimately the most important part of being involved in the Council for Exceptional Children.