Moraga Tutors

About Moraga

Moraga is a small town in the Bay Area, but is by no means small-hearted or ineffective. In fact, Moraga is home to one of the most important ventures in education that affects thousands of students year after year. The Orion Academy, first conceived of in the 1980s and eventually founded in the early 2000s, is a private school dedicated to working with special needs students, specializing those with Asperger's syndrome, nonverbal learning disorders (NLDs), and other neurocognitive disabilities. For too long, students affected by these learning disabilities fell behind and floundered in the public school system. Orion Academy has helped hundreds in its short time as a private school in Moraga.

Kathryn Stewart is the school’s executive director; she specializes in nonverbal learning disorder, and was approached by colleagues Sue Thompson, Judy Lewis, and Kathy Allen to found a school that would support and work with students on the autism spectrum and others with NLDs. Aaron and Val Simons, parents of a child with Asperger’s syndrome, met with Stewart and agreed to fund the establishment of the school, and within a few years, doors opened for the first time to eight students taught by four teachers. This number grew to twelve, and today, there are currently 80-plus students who attend Orion Academy in Moraga.

The Orion Community at Orion Academy sums up the goals of the institution. They are to, “collaboratively to help students discover and develop their individual gifts and strengths, become self-advocates, and realize their full potential.” Many on the autism spectrum and those with neurocognitive disabilities struggle with self-acceptance and flounder through public schooling programs. Often, teachers are unprepared and ill-equipped to address the individual needs of those who require extra attention, time, and different approaches to teaching than the standard high schooler. Orion Academy accounts for these students, showing them not only how to academically succeed, but also do so with self-confidence they may lack in other settings.

The school employs teachers in language arts, math, science, special education, social science, and social skills. In addition, Orion Academy offers more than 35 college preparatory classes, plus extracurricular clubs and activities available to its student body. Orion-specific activities include the Dog Program, an occupational therapy class, a mandatory personal project class, social skills groups, laptop computers as a basis of all work done by students, mandated volunteer experiences, and internship opportunities. Not only are students taken care of, they are prepared for the future with a myriad of resources at their disposal.

The Orion Academy sets a standard for all who work in academia, including Grade Potential tutors. Their clients, who may suffer from a lack of self-confidence as a result of failing grades, can be rest assured they will be taken care of in the same professional manner as the students at Orion Academy. Everyone deserves a chance to succeed, and tutors are there to help facilitate that success, just the way the founders of Orion Academy envisioned almost two decades ago.