At Beyond Akeela we love to help encourage our travelers to develop personal skills that will help them throughout their lives. We never lose focus of our goal which is to help foster a learning environment that is fun and teaches many life skills that will help grow the Special Needs Teen Tour traveler’s life. Our Teen Tours focus on things like Increasing amounts of independence and responsibility, Wilderness opportunities that help campers learn more about who they are and all that they are capable of, real-world practice of planning & prioritizing, time management, organization, flexibility, task initiation, involvement and ownership of their own experience. Beyond Akeela provides special needs teens the opportunity to get out of their normal area for the summer and explore the world around them. It will enable them to prepare for life after high school. Many special needs teens who have traveled with us on a Beyond Akeela teen travel program are heading to college or a post-secondary program and need the practice in order to start off their young adult life successfully. Beyond Akeela’s Special Needs Teen Tour Travel Program is a chance for teens to become more independent. They learn to be more flexible as they travel from place to place. They learn important life skills such as food preparation (including menu planning, making a shopping list, shopping in a grocery store and finally, cooking a meal), laundry, budget planning, and setting an alarm to attend a morning meeting. Perhaps one of the most important things that our Teen Tours provide to our traveler’s is the opportunity to meet other teens from all over the country who share similar interests and life experiences. Teens Travelers with Beyond Akeela make life-long friends and form connections that make them feel valued and part of a community.