Education

Ms. Sondia O. Bell is the founder of Jacob's Bridge to Learning, designated as a non-profit organization in 2020. Ms. Bell holds a Masters degree in Entrepreneurial Studies and a Minor Certificate of Mastery. Ms. Bell graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Employment law from the University of Tulsa. She has been a Senior Buyer for over 10 years with companies such as Spirit AeroSystems, Baker Hughes, and the City of Tulsa. 

Ms. Bell's experiences include financial leadership, budget management, and supply and demand. Ms. Bell has worked and taught with children and adults with all types of challenges starting at a very young age. The first personal experience she had with Autism was with her child, Jacob. Ms. Bell's goal is to make a difference in the lives of those around her which led her to start with her own family at Jacob’s Bridge to Learning.

SCOPE

Jacob, Ms. Bell's son was diagnosed with Autism at the age of three as non/verbal, Level 1. First, she says, she was very concerned, but she was determined to gain knowledge about Autism to better her parenting skills. As Ms. Bell enrolled Jacob into many different schools, Jacob's level continued to increase higher and higher even with the lack of support from his teachers. She started to notice there was a need in the public-school settings for training teachers on how to support special needs children. Ms. Bell feels special needs teachers should help their students by finding each student’s unique strengths and traits and share the wealth of knowledge with other teachers, which will allow these unique children to master their gifts.

​This led Ms. Bell to being introduced to the Lindsey Nichole Scholarship. Ms. Bell thought of putting Jacob into a private school, where she thought he would be able to progress more due to the small staff and classroom size. However, Jacob and Ms. Bell hit another roadblock due to Jacob being listed as non/verbal on an IEP, although Jacob could read chapter books and enjoyed learning. This finally led to Jacob’s Bridge to Learning, Inc. being birthed.