Balsam Base, North Carolina:
Jonathan Jones
Executive Director
jonathan@soarnc.org
John Willson
Director of LD & AD/HD Services
bigjohn@soarnc.org
TR Internships, Conferences, Workshops, Outdoor Classrooms
Wandajean
Jones
Comptroller
wjean@soarnc.org
Bookkeeping, Finance, Accounts Payable
Laura Pate
Director of North Carolina Programs
pate-moore@soarnc.org
Staff Hiring
Logan Walters
Director of Semester Programs
logan@soarnc.org
Catey Terry
Director of Administrative Team
catey@soarnc.org
Program Inquiries, Finance Inquiries, Student Forms, Marketing
Andy Biddle
Director of Logistics
andy@soarnc.org
Robin Whitley
Admission Assistant
robin@soarnc.org
Student Applications, Program Inquiries, Student Forms
Diann Rogers
Office Manager
diann@soarnc.org
Student Emails, Student Mail
Jon Terry
Program Director Project Pursuit
jonterry@soarnc.org
Rachel Richardson
Lead Teacher, Program Director Project Pursuit
rachel@soarnc.org
Eagle View Ranch, Wyoming:
Eagle View Ranch
184 Uphill Road
P.O Box 584
Dubois, WY 82513
307-455-3084
Fax: 307-455-3094
evrwy2@dteworld.com
Jon Bressler
Director of Semester Programs
Becki Burnett
Director of Wyoming and California Summer Programs
becki@soarnc.org
Ashley Pinkelman
Lead Teacher
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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 Jon Terry.
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: