I Didn't Know The Academy at SOAR was A Full Year School Program

SOAR is a full year school program?

The more people I talk to, the more I am convinced that The Academy at SOAR is education's best kept secret. That isn't necessarily a good thing.

If I talk to  people where I live in Charlotte, a mere two and a half hours from our Balsam base, folks have never heard of SOAR. Our Science and Math teacher Aaron says he has talked to folks from Waynesville, North Carolina, about 15 minutes from us, and many of them have never heard of us, or at best say they've heard of SOAR but have no idea what we do.



As Cool Hand Luke once said, "It seems as though what he have here is a failure to communicate," or to market to say the least. SOAR has been around in various incarnations since 1977. That's 35 years give or take, and some of the neighbors don't know who we are.

So we get the message out that SOAR exists, and that we're a great thing for kids. That's a start. But some don't know that SOAR has The Academy at SOAR, a full time, full year academic program for grades 6 to 12. " Well I thought you were just a semester program. I didn't know you offered a full school year program." " I wish you offered a school program for multiple years."

Looks like I've got to be the one to let the cat out of the bag. SOAR and The Academy at SOAR is a full year, fully functional, very successful academic program for students grades 6 - 12. We offer individualized, differentiated approach designed to meet students where they are at, and take them where they want, and need to go.

"Well that's fine and good, Mike, but why should I send my child to The Academy at SOAR for a whole school year?"

I'm so glad you asked that question.

For any student, in any program, transition is a challenge. For students with special needs and challenges like ADD/ADHD or learning disabilities, transition can be overwhelming, and, not planned and implemented with care and consideration, can be devastating.

From an Academy at SOAR perspective, students come in their first semester, and that semester is mainly about learning routines and systems, and a time for teachers to first evaluate first-hand a students strengths and needs. We use this time to get to know your child, what they can and can't do, so that our plan can evolve into what becomes an individualized, differentiated plan for teaching, reaching and learning for your child.

So often, the students I feel I have failed, are the ones who just come for a single semester. Just when we have identified needs, developed systems for meeting those needs, and getting into a groove, it is time for that student to move on to where the family or the student has decided they will go next.

SOAR and The Academy at SOAR is a good safe place for kids. I've often described it as an " Oasis in the desert" for students who haven't found success in other environments. It is a place where it is safe to make mistakes, learn from them. It is a place that accepts students for who they are, values and acknowledges their strengths, while at the same time building up their weaknesses. While the work our instructors and staff isn't magic, it is nothing short of miraculous. I have seen, in the two years I have been at SOAR, students grow so incredibly, academically, socially,and holisitically. Students at SOAR and The Academy at SOAR, are the first students in my 20 + year career in education, who have come up to me, unprompted at the end of a school year, or the end of their time at SOAR and have told me, unprompted, what they have learned, what they have gained, or how they have grown, as a result of their experiences at SOAR.  So perhaps I should just let the students speak for themselves.

So, is it difficult for parents, and their kids, for their kids to be away from home? Definately. Is it a financial commitment to send your child to SOAR, and the Academy at SOAR? Absolutely.

Consider, if you will, the things I have said above, as you make your decisions as to whether or not your child will attend SOAR and the Academy at SOAR for a single semester, or whether you and your child will make the commitment for the school year. As I have stated numerous times, it isn't my job to market our program. It is my job, and my team's job to teach your kids and do everything within my power and skillset to teach them how to learn and how to be successful at school, and enjoy doing it.

Consider the challenges your child may have, once acclimated to SOAR or any other school program for a semester, transitioning he or she out, into an entirely new and different school program. It can't be easy.

I say these things for partially selfish reasons. As an educator it is my job and my passion to make a difference with and for your kids. We, your child and our academic team, work diligently together over the course of the semester. We begin to see the progress, and the success that has the potential to turn into those happy endings, of things learned and gained and expressed by students, unprompted. Then a student says they are leaving before our work together is finished, it can be a bit defeating for both educator and student. We haven't had the chance to see our efforte bear fruit.

You're neve going to find a school, that treats your child like the individual they are, and caters to what they need, individually to be successful. I say this as a parent of two children who attend public schools. I say, perhaps with a little bias, but as an educator who has worked at several schools over the course of 20 years.

So I completely understand if you miss your child and want and need to have them back at home with you. I can relate to that 100 %. If you make the choice to take your child elsewhere at the end of the semester for that reason, as a parent, I can't and won't argue with you.

I also totally understand, if the financial commitment is too large to bear. It is a tremendous financial commitment, to commit for a school year. If you can't have your child return for that reason, I understand more than you know.

However, if you believe, that moving on at the end of one semester is academically and socially what is the best thing for your child, I would not fight you, but I would challenge your line of thinking.

If you are impressed with what SOAR and the Academy at SOAR is and can do for your child in a semester, imagine what a year can do. I've seen it. I wouldn't press the issue if I hadn't seen the evidence to support my claims.

Thanks for allowing us, at The Academy at SOAR, the opportunity to work with and grow your children.

Mike