For Youth At-Risk academic life can be exceptionally challenging. Many drop out of the educational system and are left vulnerable, unmotivated, and unable to find satisfactory employment, training, and advancement. In response to this issue, I developed an active learning program for teenagers that offered a school matriculation course for Equine Studies with the possibility of maximum points. This course was divided into three parts and was considered an agricultural science exam through which the students studied the inside and out of a horse, their environment, and comparing their form and development to other farm animals and birds. The aim of the course was to raise their self- esteem and allow them to develop a critical consciousness so that they too would have that sense of ownership, accomplishment, feeling that they were on a par with others by studying for and passing a valuable high school matriculation exam. In this Zoom lecture, I will explain the elements of the course and its specific impact upon the students.

A person who is paraplegic is one who has received an interruption in the transmission of nerve impulses, stopping sensations and messages being passed to a particular part of their body. This results in complete loss of muscle power and possible sensation as well.

Since the Yom Kippur War, Israel has witnessed many of its soldiers returning home from campaigns with severe injuries and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a severe mental health problem – a trauma and stressor related disorder that causes intense fear, helplessness, and often horror.