Upper Campus Winter Sports Season Comes To A Close
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This month at OVS students return from winter break and resume classes January 12, 2015. Lower Campus is preparing for international travel while Upper Campus continues to prepare for their journey Into The Woods.
The first week back to school is proving to be packed with lots of excitement as far as the school calendar is concerned. Lower campus will be kicking off the New Year with a Spelling Bee on Wednesday, January 12, followed by Dream Themes Dress Day and prepping for Spring Backpacking Trips.
Soccer and basketball are on the table for both campuses as we exit out of winter break mode. The Middle School girls’ soccer team will be heading to Upper observe the Varsity team as they continue developing their strategy.
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Next week, OVS will host the much-anticipated annual Science Fair for elementary and middle school students in grades 3-8.
Each year, approximately 20 students are chosen to represent OVS at the Ventura County Science Fair and in recent years students have gone on to compete at the state level, notably with projects that reflect our STEAM curriculum and students’ interest in environmental science and related fields. OVS has a long history of top recognition at these events, but the purpose of the Science Fair is truly to celebrate and demonstrate the many ways in which experiential learning is taught, valued, encouraged an embraced by students across the grade levels. Please join us at Lower Campus on February 4, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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January 31 – Ojai Valley School equestrians in grades 5-8 passed their examinations for higher ratings within the U.S. Pony Club on Saturday, demonstrating their skills at stadium and cross country jumping while enjoying a beautiful day riding together in the hills north of Ventura.
Supported by friends, family members and their OVS instructors, six riders rode Saturday at the Canada Larga Ranch stables for their D-2 Pony Club certifications. They first demonstrated proficiency in horsemanship and the care of their horses, then ride on the flat and over fences in the arena before venturing out to the cross country course developed by stables owner and OVS past parent Steve Gaggero.
The girls showed poise, courage, teamwork, and perseverance while also having fun riding in a new setting that presented challenges for the horses and their riders. OVS high school equestrians will have the opportunity to train at Canada Large and take their certifications in March. Thank you to the Gaggero family for hosting OVS at these events.
To view photos from this equestrian event, please visit the Images of OVS page. Click the enclosed link to see a calendar of Upcoming Equestrian Events.
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Congratulations to our Middle School basketball team! The boys took first place last week at the CAL Tournament after a gutsy performance in the final game against Marymount in Santa Barbara. The Spuds were down 39-37 with just 13 seconds left in the game. Nolan Colborn drove down the court and passed the ball to Tyler Davis, who missed a three-point shot. But Nolan grabbed the rebound and made the shot at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime. From there, the Spuds raced out to an early lead thanks to some key shots from Nikolai Mannes and Nic Rosen.
“We were up 46-43 with just 20 seconds left,” said Coach Ben Malkin. “One of their players got fouled shooting a three-pointer with 8 seconds left in the game. He made the first two free throws, making the game 46-45. That third free throw was just a little too strong and Nolan grabbed the rebound, ending the game 46-45.”
It has been a great week for basketball at Upper Campus as well with wins for the girls’ and boys’ squads. Congrats to all our teams! Check out the website calendar for dates and times of upcoming games.
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Click here to see recent pictures of the Founder’s Shop construction.
The new year opened with eye-popping improvements at the Lower Campus as construction crews made rapid progress on our new arts center and renovated Founder’s Shop.
We’ve installed a new fire sprinkler line, roof shingles, skylights, and gutters. The painters are done inside and out of the building, and the well-worn fir floorboards of the historic shop have been stripped, sanded and refinished.
Meanwhile, tidy box hedges, rosemary, rose bushes and other drought-tolerant species are being planted outside the arts center and neighboring buildings. Elegant high-efficiency LED (and Dark Sky compliant) new light posts are being installed, and new rock curbs and decomposed granite sidewalks have been completed in front of Frost Hall and the west entrance of campus near the stables.
In construction, there are opportunities to make pivotal infrastructure improvements that no one sees because they often happen underground. An example of this is the addition of a new storm drain, installed before the holiday break, which will carry storm runoff from El Paseo Road to the south side of campus. We are hoping this will help alleviate a hundred-year old problem where the campus floods during any major rainstorms.
Another example is a major electrical upgrade that occurred over the break. Crews removed a power pole near the Admission Office and tunneled a network of power lines beneath the east portion of campus, thus establishing a vastly improved electrical system that will support new technology and future building projects.
The fine arts have been a cornerstone of Ojai Valley School’s experience for more than a century, and we are excited to see the progress being made on this new art center and rehabilitated Founder’s Shop.
Originally designed by founder Edward Yeomans, the shop has been the hub and heart of the visual arts program at the Lower Campus for generations. When it began to show its age (after nearly 98 years of use), the school made a firm commitment to preserve and protect its historic features. The shop is now being carefully restored while also being upgraded to serve the needs of future students. In addition to major energy efficiency and structural upgrades, The original floor, windows, battens, and much of the redwood siding from the original building have been preserved and polished to a new luster, bridging the old and the new.
With the support of our families and alumni, we hope to open the arts center and restored woodshop in March 2015.
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OVS’ tradition of progressive education is about to get even more progressive thanks to Dana DeYoung, one of two K-1 teachers at the Lower Campus. DeYoung, along with Nicole Ferro, work together to provide the primary students a challenging and enriching educational experience. Ferro heads the Language Arts side of the curriculum while DeYoung develops Math and Sciences. Experiential learning mixed with progressive education is one of the key components to the OVS philosophy. OVS can easily thrive for another 100 years by continuing to raise the bar in the educational programming offered to each individual student.
With the Primary Division being at the heart of the Lower Campus educational journey, DeYoung, Ferro and Gartrell (Pre-K) have one of the biggest challenges of the three Lower Campus divisions. And that challenge is: How do we begin?
How does a writer begin telling a story? How does a composer begin a symphonic masterpiece? And how does an educator begin the journey of learning and discovery? As humans and technology evolve it’s important to find new ways to reach the students inside today’s classrooms and that’s exactly what Dana DeYoung is integrating into her K-1 curriculum.
DeYoung’s solution is STEM. And soon she’ll be upgrading her classroom operating system to STEAM. STEAM is an even more comprehensive curriculum encompassing the standard Science, Technology, Engineering and Math areas of study but it incorporates the Arts into the fold for a completely well-rounded education. STEM’s been a hot topic in the world of education for many years, but educators have only recently made the connection between the form, the function, the structure and the design elements which only the Arts can contribute to STEM. Stay tuned for updates on the exciting scientific adventures that will be explored during the Spring Term.
Click here to see pictures from the K-1 classroom and Middle School Tech classes.
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The Empty Bowls Foundation is a charity set up in 1990 to raise money and awareness in support of food banks, soup kitchens and other organizations fighting hunger. The Santa Barbara event was launched in 1998.
As has been the case for the past several years, ceramics students donated bowls for the event and afterward helped stack chairs and tables, took out the trash, gathered signs, packed up leftover pots, and, of course, ate soup.
Students participating in this years’ event were Claire Wickenhaeuser, Daphne Psaledakis, Jenna McIntosh, Ali Fortier, Winnie Chang, Lucinda Wong, Winnie Wu, Lily Cao and Marcella Peek.
Mrs. Cooper, who has been attending the event since 2006, said it was great once again to see OVS students pitching in when asked to do so.
“[We go to Empty Bowls] so that they can participate in a community service project that’s quick and easy,” Mrs. Cooper said.
This story by Upper Campus journalism student Daphne Psaledakis (L12) on the journalism news website On The Hill.