In a Nutshell: Embracing a New Season of Learning and Community at Oakhill

Some call it a “false fall”, but I’ll take it - this unseasonal coolness! This past weekend was beautiful, and I spent every second of daylight OUTSIDE … riding the 4-wheeler, running the trails, babysitting my grandpuppy (Pickles), and mowing! Nothing is better than a 75-degree day - sunshine, fish jumping in the pond, dragonflies, and hummingbirds coming into the feeder like a jet plane! BTW … at what age and stage do you go from not paying much attention to birds to watching them, feeding them, and truly being intrigued by them? Must be the “season of bird watching” at the McCanles farm! 

This Back to School season has been full of positive energy and community connections! There was something special about this “start” to the school year … everyone was ready to get “back at it”... to embrace the fast pace and enormity of the job we call teaching. Our staff development week was filled with togetherness, team building, and preparation (as you all know from receiving our staff email) : ) In 19 years of “doing this,” I have never seen a team look, sound, and feel so ready for a new year!

How about THAT Carnival last Friday? What a great way to end the first full week of school! Everyone is already exhausted from FIVE whole days of getting up early, working hard all day, napping less or not at all (think Early Childhood kiddos and not the teachers), eating at a certain time, and having to do homework or head to practices! I know I was looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday! A HUGE thank you to Jenny Julian and Chris Onik for heading up our Carnival Committee … the planning, the preparation, and the managing of all the moving parts of the night! How about that sticky wall … the cotton candy … the grilled hot dogs … and the face painting? 

September … the kick off to the fall season … brings much excitement at Oakhill. If you take a look at the calendar, there is something for everyone - athletic events, train night, STEM Showcase, and our Annual Golf Tournament just to name a few. I want to take a minute to highlight our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) event. On Wednesday, September 17th, all of our teachers who teach or specialize in STEM will “show” you the passion, lessons, experiments, manipulatives, coding, etc … that make up a given day at Oakhill! STEM is an important part of your child’s day, regardless of age … a focal point within a curriculum, and a jumping off point for many clubs and activities. Mark your calendars now - you won’t want to miss it!

I could write a dissertation on what Oakhill does really well - every subject area, every specialist area (PE, music, art, Spanish, Technology, Innovation Lab), our Global Thread course to teach students about the people and community that surrounds them, the small group social activities we do through our counseling program to help students learn and grow with their peers, our robust Student Support Department with a myriad of offerings and activities, the health and wellness focus, our morning academic clubs, the diverse offerings after school, our student centered Kids Club program, the “Fully Charged” summer program, the wide range of athletic offerings, the Living Lab where they can get their hands dirty within curated learning experiences, and the list goes on and on and on! That was quite the run-on sentence! 

Our data and scores are proof of our daily progress, our celebrations, both big and small, and our overall success, but it is the actual Oakhill Educational Journey … the daily experience we deliver that truly makes Oakhill special … the value … the difference maker … the exclamation point! It is not by chance that we can deliver such a special sauce … it takes planning, preparation, forward thinking, reflection, analysis, discussion, debate, dedication, and CONSTANT collaboration to make the Oakhill vision a reality! We work on all of this every single day.

Thank you for choosing us … for choosing this educational journey! Thank you for trusting the Oakhill experience … the philosophy … the process … and the “way” we deliver! We will always do what is best for your child and for Oakhill - never wavering from our mission, values, and Lifeskills. As we say … teaching is a BIG job; ALL of us are up to the challenge - we KNOW what we signed up for and are here to be our best for you, your children, and this generation! 

Always appreciative of what we have,
Suzanne