On May 27th, ND Empowerment hosted our 2nd ever puzzle challenge from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Many neurodivergent friends and families showed up for food, games, and fun!

It all started with an after-school planning meeting at Starbucks. We had already reserved a Microsoft meeting cabin in which we would host the event, but we still had to decide how we would run the event and which games we would play. After much discussion, we decided on Rebus Puzzles, Jeopardy, Hangman, chess, and Apples to Apples. Soon after the meeting, our hardworking volunteers got to work getting these games ready and marketing our event.

On Saturday, volunteers arrived at the venue before the event to start setting up. We set up pizza, drinks, and all the fun activities that we had planned. Soon after, the attendees started showing up. After enjoying refreshments, we formed the attendees into groups, each supported by a volunteer, who led the groups through rebus puzzles. We were all shocked by how quickly the attendees worked through them; in fact, the groups had to trade their puzzle sheets so that there would be enough to satisfy their ravenous puzzle-solving appetites! After that, the volunteers and attendees split into two sides to play a riveting round of jeopardy, followed by other exciting games. 

We could tell from the happiness radiating off the attendees and their families that this event was a great success, and we are definitely planning on doing another one!

Thank you to all volunteers and president Nathan Guan for making this event possible!

ND Empowerment is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the state of Washington dedicated to preparing neurodiverse individuals for careers through integrated career-technical education (CTE). With unemployment rates for individuals with autism (ASD) being approximately 85%, ND Empowerment’s mission is to tap into the unique strengths, passions, and abilities of neurodiverse individuals to enable them to join the workforce.