Club builds bridges among students with different needs

The Change It Up Club at Neshaminy High School has a very spe­cial mis­sion — to bring stu­dents with very dif­fer­ent needs, abil­i­ties and back­grounds together.

The club imple­ments extracur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties to help those with spe­cial needs in the com­mu­ni­ty. Sandi Spong, a Special Education teacher who is the club’s advi­sor, encour­ages stu­dents to reach out and learn about chil­dren with dif­fer­ences and give back to their com­mu­ni­ty. The club has nar­rowed its focus on under­stand­ing the lives of indi­vid­u­als with spe­cial needs or those who are con­nect­ed to chil­dren with spe­cial needs. Their activ­i­ties cre­ate an envi­ron­ment that is com­fort­able to all stu­dents. The Change It Up Club assists with Neshaminy’s sup­port of Challenger Programs such as the fall Challenger Football and Cheerleading pro­gram, and events at the Neshaminy High School and in the sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ty. They have seen smiles on faces and enjoyed laugh­ter because rela­tion­ships are being built and every­one is learn­ing and reach­ing per­son­al goals which is priceless.

The Change It Up Club has also hosts var­i­ous com­mu­ni­ty social events includ­ing Holiday, Fall and Spring Socials, attends class dances and oth­er events where sup­port is need­ed. In December the club held a Polar Express-themed Movie Night. For Autism Awareness month they sold t‑shirts to the High school stu­dents and teach­ers to sup­port their Kindness Program. The Neshaminy High School Gym Night hosts spe­cial needs vol­un­teers to assist with the floor crew as well.

The par­ents of these chil­dren with spe­cial needs, as well as the vol­un­teers, have been very sup­port­ive of these programs.