Bridge to Hope Academy was founded by Dawn Burnett, a 1997 UCA graduate and a classroom teacher. Dawn taught 5th grade, 2nd grade, Kindergarten, and contracted as a developmental therapist for children ages birth to 3. After moving to an academic intervention position with PCSSD, she came to the realization that there was a missing link in learning for a small population of her students. It was this mystery that sent her back to graduate school. After returning to University of Central Arkansas to work on her Dyslexia Endorsement, she began to pursue her passion to reach the 1 in 5 students who were left drowning in academics because of difficulties in learning using typical methods of instruction. Originally, in 2017, she rented out space with a local therapy company to begin privately serving struggling students and offering consultations with parents to help them better understand dyslexia and dysgraphia and how it affected their children. From there she opted to open Bridge to Hope Academic Therapy and Consulting Services, LLC. This allowed her to continue to identify students and meet the needs of parents in her own operating space. Recognizing her passion, and using her own investment funds, Bridge to Hope Academy was opened in August of 2020, to serve the need for full days of VAKT instruction for several of her intervention students. Dawn moved the Academy (currently operating at 2001 East Kiehl Ave, Suite 3) to a larger space that can house 12 students and offers multisensory instruction simultaneously using visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile modalities. Dawn’s vision for Bridge to Hope Academy is to provide students an inquisitive and innovative multi-sensory and organic learning environment. Her students are cause for constant inspiration and fuel her desire for them to find meaning from learning and become effective, purposeful, and contributing members of the community and the world around them.