Alumni of The Oaks: Extended Content

Learning a New Love

When I reflect back on my childhood and what subjects I enjoyed – or trying to figure out what I wanted to study in college and what I wanted to pursue – I always thought about art being my favorite class, specifically with Mrs. Stark. She was amazing and I need her to know she changed my life.

Just having that time in the day where we could be imaginative and just create was really important for me. I was exposed to that here and it never stopped for me when I left. I learned that I love painting and drawing. It’s stuck with me and is a hobby of mine today, and has come in handy in random instances as well. For a couple years, I competed in pageants, and my talent was always speed painting and I credit this to Mrs. Stark because she helped me learn about this love.

I feel like a door was really opened here. When I look back on my time at The Oaks, I think I appreciate most the space and room to grow in art and creativity.

Finding an Appreciation for The Oaks

I think I have been able to acknowledge that I didn’t appreciate The Oaks as much while I was here. I didn’t recognize the value of everything The Oaks gave us or the impact it was going to have on my life. Now, so many years removed, I see how amazing something like having Lauds in the morning is, and how great all of what you’re involved in from Kindergarten to 8th grade is.

So if I ever hear my younger sisters complain, I want to tell them that they are getting the best education in the world! They are at the best place, in a building of teachers that genuinely care about them! I just want to share with them my appreciation for The Oaks, but in a way that I think they can relate to. Let them know that when I was there, I also didn’t like wearing uniforms, but to look at what they’re learning and how disciplined they are and how great they are!

The investment of coming to The Oaks is 100% worth it. What you get out of The Oaks will never compare to what you put into it because you get so much more out of it. I don’t know what tuition costs now, or what my mom had to pay when I came here, but I feel like it’s probably not even enough because what The Oaks gives us is unheard of. I can share my experiences with other people and they don’t even remember their teachers because they didn’t impact their life like the teachers do at The Oaks.

Learning to Fly

Our class was unique at the time because there were two women, Mrs. Hallam and Mrs. Rettig, who supported our Kindergarten class and assisted our families financially all the way. Not just through 8th grade, high school, or college but through graduate school. It was overwhelming the amount of love that they showed all of us.

They called the scholarship ‘Wings to Fly’, and I think about that all the time because it’s not just about what they gave us but how it changed us. I feel like I learned to fly at The Oaks. The Oaks experience helped to build that foundation for who I am today, and I was able to get everything I need to take off in life when I left 8th grade. I definitely wouldn’t be who I am today without The Oaks.