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North Carolina Whitewater Expedition:
Learn to KAYAK!!
This course is designed for students who want to develop their whitewater skills while rafting and kayaking some of the best whitewater rivers in the East. The program begins with team building and expedition planning at Balsam Base, before the group heads off to River the Tuckaseegee River for an introduction to whitewater morphology and safety. Next the group travels to the Nantahala River, where they will gain a solid foundation of whitewater skills. The Nantahala progression includes rafting, funyaking and a 4-day kayak instruction course with the world-renown Nantahala Outdoor Center. Students learn various kayaking skills such as the Eskimo Roll, how to read rapids, ferrying, eddy turns and peel outs. After completion of the Nantahala progression, the students depart for a day of rafting down the exciting Ocoee River- site of the 1996 Olympic whitewater course. This Class 3 and 4 river provides the group one last opportunity to work as a team while utilizing their new-found whitewater skills.
For more information on Balsam, NC
http://www.haywood-nc.com/
Quick Facts:
Dates:
7/23 - 8/1
Students: 10
Days: 10
Tuition:$3,100
Ages:14 - 18
Gear Guide
Gear List
Itinerary
These are 2011 lists, Summer 2012 will be posted shortly!
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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: