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North Carolina Llama Trek:
The Llama Trek courses were designed to provide our younger students with
an opportunity to experience the wonderful adventures of the North Carolina
Programs, utilizing Llamas to help lighten the backpacking loads. We found
these younger explorers to be tenacious adventurers and remarkable seekers
of excitement and learning.
The course begins at Balsam Base with a focus on developing a sense of team and trust within each group. We move right into the first phase of the course and begin rock climbing mild to moderate routes in and near the Pisgah National Forest.
Utilizing skills in teamwork and self confidence, the next phase of the course allows the students the opportunity of Llama trekking in the Panthertown Wilderness Area. The care each student provides their own Llama during this adventure provides insight into the sensitive and nurturing gifts these children possess. Upon return the students wrap up their adventure with a whitewater rafting trip down the Nantahala River. Students must weigh a minimum of 60 pounds to participate in whitewater rafting
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Quick Facts:
Dates:
Session I: 6/12 - 6/23
Session II: 6/26 - 7/7
Session III: 7/10 - 7/21
Session IV: 7/24 - 8/04
Students: 14
Days: 12
Tuition:$2,700
Ages:8 - 10
Gear Guide
Gear List
Itinerary
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Philosophy: SOAR believes all individuals identified with learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit disorder (AD/HD) possess inherent talents and gifts. These abilities can mean incredible success in adulthood once these students negotiate the challenging obstacles of childhood, adolescence, and a traditional education system, usually unable to respond to individual learning styles.
Therefore, the SOAR model is based on two fundamental principles. First, youth with LD and AD/HD flourish when they are encouraged to focus on their strengths in an experiential setting. The second principle acknowledges that success can be generalized by encouraging our students to develop and utilize strategies, enabling them to compensate for those challenging characteristics of LD and AD/HD. To this end, SOAR staff strive to ensure success for each student across a wide range of experiences. Such success, in turn, builds essential self-esteem and self-confidence.
Based on these two foundations, SOAR participants develop problem solving skills, effective communication strategies, increased self-awareness, and social skills. Program activities include a broad base of wilderness adventure experiences that empower students to make healthy choices, learn more about themselves, overcome challenges, and establish relevance from these experiences to other aspects of their life.
SOAR's Specialty Courses are open to SOAR alumni and students with the maturity and experience level to be successful on the course. Acceptance is conditional on the approval of the course director. Most specialty courses are led by one of SOAR's year-round staff including Jonathan Jones, John Willson and Logan Walters.
SOAR’s programs are designed to allow students the opportunity to increase their independence while away from home. Independence is gained through self-motivation and life skills instruction. With this in mind, we involve our students in many decision making processes, such as setting individual goals, developing group guidelines, as well as trip and meal planning. This also comes into consideration when developing SOAR’s communication policy, detailed in our Parent Handbook.
SOAR is dedicated to serving the needs of individuals with learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit disorder (AD/HD) and is proud to be the finest: