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Message From SOAR Director

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Greetings!  If you have already applied to the SOAR Program or are considering applying, please be assured that the SOAR experience is one that you will never forget.  As a SOAR student, you will be housed in the new freshman dormitories at Old Dominion University (beside the new Student Activities Building) under my oversight with assistance from my evening staff of two residential counselors (teachers) and four student counselors (college students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).  I have planned a very interesting schedule of events for you over the three weeks of the program.  I will implement these activities with assistance from my daytime staff of five science and math teachers and two administrative assistants.  A tentative schedule of these events is posted on this website.  These activities range from designing your project group’s customized t-shirts to flying remote control aircraft – from performing wind tunnel tests in a NASA wind tunnel to studying the effect of waves on surfboards at a nearby beach – from experimentally studying the aerodynamics of parachute flight to investigating the g-forces experienced on rides at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia, and relating these forces to those experienced by pilots in high-performance aircraft.  As you can see, we will explore a variety of areas within aeronautics.

This summer program is fully funded by NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.  As you may realize by now, all your program-related expenses are covered.  If you live farther than 500 miles from Hampton, VA, the SOAR Office will provide you with airline tickets after coordinating a travel itinerary with you.  However, if you live 500 miles or closer, it is likely that your family will be asked to drive you to Hampton (they will be reimbursed for expenses).  All your meals are covered – even if we eat at MacDonald’s or Burger King on field trips.  All you will probably want to bring is money for snacks and souvenirs.

 I will provide you with more information after the student selection process has been completed.  If you are fortunate enough to be chosen to participate, you will join fifty-one other high school students for the three weeks of new experiences in aeronautics – making new friends from all over the United States and from U.S. Territories.

So, if you have applied, I hope you are one of the students I will meet in Virginia in July when we “SOAR” in aeronautics.  If you have not applied, how have you been able to resist??!!??