SOARs are Back
It's Thursday and all the students at Eastern Christian High School have to sign up for SOARs by 3 P.M. Some students might choose an outdoor activity run by Rachel Post. Another might be interested in Anchored, a girls only bible study, or maybe some time fly fishing with Mr. Dykstra. SOARs oftentimes have interesting ideas because they are almost always started by students.
After returning from remote learning in spring 2020, the 2021 year at Eastern Christian High School did not have SOARs. SOAR is a club type period where students can sign up for all different types of activities including: fly fishing, flag football, math club, Korean club, and many more.
The dean of freshmen and sophomores Ms. Araneda said, ¨I am very excited because I think it is going to give students an opportunity to explore things other than academics.¨ Students now have a chance to learn new things and try things out of their comfort zone unlike last year. She currently runs one SOAR. It is a girls open gym.
Students can also create their own SOAR. They can start by going to a dean and getting a form. This form asks them what the SOAR is and how often they would like to meet. The student also has to find a teacher that would like to be a part of and supervise the SOAR. Then, you meet with the dean to make sure everything is set. After this is all done you have just made a SOAR.
Starting a SOAR is a really great way to expand one of your interests more. Ms. Araneda said, ¨I mean there are so many ideas that I think more service SOARs would be really good. I think the flag football SOAR is really good because we do not have a football team. A woodshop SOAR would be really cool if we had the space too.¨
Since two years ago there have not been a lot of changes to SOARs. Except that the old SOARs have been replaced with new ones that students are interested in. Students have also been talking about starting up a spikeball SOAR that meets once a week.
Ms. Araneda says, ¨I think students should take advantage of it; SOAR is a really good thing we have at EC. Everyone should try something new out because you might find you have some new interests.¨