Those who did (and didn’t) SOAR
If you attended grade school in the Kirkwood School District, the terms “REACH” or “SOAR” may be familiar to you. The mentioning of these programs could spark nostalgia or confusion at being left out. The Kirkwood School District’s gifted program from grades K-5 is named REACH, and the program for grades 6-8 is named SOAR. According to the district’s website, the main goal of these gifted programs is to “support students in achieving their personal goals and academic success for which they are capable”. Children can qualify as early as kindergarten, and be taken into separate classrooms to complete enrichment activities or learn in a different way from regular classroom settings. Here is how some students at KHS, both in and out of Kirkwood’s SOAR or REACH, felt about the program.
