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Wyoming Academic Discovery:
Academic Discovery is designed for the student who wants the excitement of SOAR's adventure challenge program as well as the skills which allow greater success in the academic classroom. Each week, the students participate in 3 days of academics and related activities at Eagle View Ranch, then move into 4 days of adventure programming. This cycle continues for the entire 26 days of the course.
The academic program includes individualized academics, tutorials in language arts or mathematics, a learning styles inventory that identifies strength areas and opportunities for development, and a survey of specific study skills and compensatory strategies.
The academic component is complemented by weekend adventure activities including horseback riding, rock climbing, rappelling, shelter building, fly fishing, canoeing, riflery, hiking in the Tetons, whitewater rafting and an exploration of Yellowstone National Park. These opportunities create a foundation of success while developing self-confidence, motivation, concentration skills and problem solving abilities. The sense of accomplishment fostered by these adventure activities encourages students to attain even greater heights when they return to the classroom setting.
SOAR is permitted to provide day-use trail rides in the Shoshone National Forest through a Special Use permit with the National Forest Service. Day rides are conducted with the Wyoming Standard, Academic Discovery, Expedition, and Advanced Horsemanship courses. SOAR contracts with an outfitter to provide Horsepacking (Progressive Pack Trips) services in the Shoshone National Forest. The Horsepacking component is part of the Wyoming Expedition Courses.
Quick Facts:
Dates:
Session I: 6/22 - 7/17
Session II: 7/22 - 8/16
Students: 14
Days: 26
Tuition:$4,300
Ages:11 - 18
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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: