ovs Archives - Ojai Valley School - Private College Prep Day and Boarding School in Ojai, California

This Month at OVS

Posted on December 1, 2019 //

December – This month marks end of the first semester at the high school, and the continuation of winter sports with soccer and basketball competing against other teams in the league.

There is a generous spirit around the holidays and that was evident before the November Thanksgiving break as our Lower Campus students held their annual Turkey Trot and our Upper Campus students supported a youth football team from Compton to achieve their dream of participating in the National Youth Football Championships. It is very heartwarming to see our school community give back in such a positive way.

This spirit of giving continues as our Parent Club volunteers come together later this week to decorate the Hermes Quad and classroom exteriors at Lower Campus by hanging wreaths and wrapping garland. This festive spirit continues as we prepare for our traditional Campus Lighting performance on Thursday, Dec. 19, at 6:30 p.m. in the Greenberg Activities Center.

As the semester winds down at Upper Campus, our students are caring not just about their upcoming final exams but also for those less fortunate in our larger Ojai community. The high school students will also celebrate with a special holiday dress dinner before their focus shifts firmly to final exams. We encourage students to meet with their teachers this week to make sure they are preparing well in advance of finals and not cramming at the last minute. Final exams begin on Monday, December 16.

Winter Sports

Posted on November 30, 2019 //

December 2 – The boys soccer and basketball teams opened the season with games before Thanksgiving Break. The soccer team traveled to Besant Hill and left with a 5-0 victory. The team showed impressive performances, especially from freshman Dongkeon Kim, who scored three goals. Junior James Choi and freshman Hyun Ung Choi each scored as well. The boys will showcase their soccer skills at home on December 9 against De Toledo High School.

For basketball, the boys team played two tough games against Garden Street Academy and Providence. Though they lost both games, the team played tough and displayed good teamwork. Freshman Ethan Chen (L19) was the leading scorer, earning 20 points. The team will participate in the Newbury Park Adventist Academy Tournament this week, with the first game set for Tuesday, December 3, at 6:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, the girls soccer team is scheduled to open the season at Oak Grove on Wednesday, December 4, at 2:00 p.m., weather permitting.

Robotics

Posted on November 15, 2019 //

Rev up your robots! The 2019-20 competitive robotics season gets underway on Saturday, November 9, with the first meet of the year at the OVS Lower Campus.

In September, OVS kicked off its new robotics season at Lower Campus with the official release of “SKYSTONE,” the theme of the latest FIRST Tech Challenge game. FIRST Tech Challenge is a competitive robotics program for middle and high school students in which students design, build, program, test and operate their own robots, under the guidance of adult coaches and mentors

Read more in a story in the student journalism website, On The Hill.

At OVS, we seek to foster creativity and problem solving by incorporating robotics and engineering into the technology curriculum. In middle school, students have the opportunity to program drones, robots, as well as electronic and word processing skills and participate on a competitive team. Students are further challenged in high school with computer science classes as well as opportunities to get involved in competitive robotics.

Family Weekend 2019

Posted on November 3, 2019 //

Thank you to all our families, past and present, who attended this year’s Family Weekend! Festivities included events at both our Lower and Upper Campuses — pumpkin and scarecrow contests, the elementary school play “Josie and the Beanstalk,” and a dinner and talent show.

During the dinner, OVS President/CEO Michael Hall-Mounsey made an exciting announcement: The Sage Foundation has pledged a gift of $2 million in support of Ojai Valley School and its plans to rebuild after the devastating Thomas Fire. It is the largest gift in school history, and comes with an added challenge from alumnus and Sage Foundation president, Ed Littlefield Jr.

“The Sage Foundation is offering a dollar-for-dollar matching challenge grant, up to $1 million, to inspire your network of supporters,” Littlefield wrote in a letter to Hall-Mounsey.

“Ed, we accept your challenge!” Hall-Mounsey said to applause from more than 300 students, parents, faculty and friends gathered under a canopy of lights on the Dok Smith Sports Field. “We can raise $1 million in the coming year and Ed, through his foundation, will match that amount. That will complete our campaign. So tonight, the clock starts ticking!”

The gift is especially timely as Ojai Valley School is poised to begin construction on the most ambitious building project in school history – a $16 million improvement plan with new classrooms, science and technology labs, a makerspace for engineering and robotics, a new girls’ dormitory, and the Student Commons.

For more information on the RESTORE RENEW REBUILD campaign, to view renderings, and make a donation which will be matched dollar-for-dollar, please visit campaign.ovs.org.

For more photos from the weekend’s festivities, click the links above!

AP Scholars

Posted on October 27, 2019 //

Seven Ojai Valley School students were recently recognized by the College Board as AP Scholars for their excellent academic performance. Among the recipients are seniors Avery Colborn (L16), Aaron Wolf (L16), Mark Sun, Siyu Lai (L16), and Sebastian Wayman-Dalo (L16), who were named AP Scholars with honor, and senior Angela Qu and junior Mark Pindur were named AP Scholars with distinction.

AP courses are designed to give high school students the experience of an intro-level college class. OVS has provided its students with more than 20 AP courses for more than two decades. Read more in a story on the student journalism website, On the Hill.

The Scholarly Seven

Bee Observant!

Posted on October 1, 2019 //

With clipboards in hand, our first grade students this week continued their exploration of pollinators. They watched bees in the butterfly garden outside their classroom and created scientific drawings of their observations. It sounds simple. But these hands-on lessons are are important step for young scientists to observe, investigate, and learn to write their results.

The science curriculum in first grade covers three general areas: life science (plants and animals), physical science (matter and energy), and earth science (weather and seasons). Enjoy the video below of their scientific field work!

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Back to School

Posted on September 22, 2019 //

Lower Campus hosted Back-to-School Night on September 4. If you were unable to attend, please contact Nicole in the Front Office at (805) 646-1423 for more information and to contact teachers for more information shared during this event. We look forward to a great year!

Fall Sports

Posted on September 3, 2019 //

Senior Claire Alexander on the football field. OVS plays next at Pilgrim School in Los Angeles on September 20. They play at home at 3:00 p.m. on September 26 at Upper Campus. Photo by John Boyd.

By Olivia Brown (L16, U20)

The number of girls on the flag football team has doubled since last year – to two. Here at OVS, more girls are participating in the male-dominated sport of football and changing the idea of coeducational sports for the school community.

Joining veteran Claire Alexander on the field for her second season, freshman Genesis Langdell (L19) is a new addition to the OVS flag football team this season. But both of them have an extensive history in sports.

For Genesis, this isn’t her first time playing flag football or being involved with co-ed sports. In addition to playing volleyball, soccer, and basketball, she played football in her early elementary years. With only a few practices under her belt, Genesis already loves the team and is ready for the upcoming season.

“Being with the team is definitely what motivates me,” explained Genesis. “Everyone on the team has been so nice and super supportive.”

Coming to OVS her junior year, Claire has been a great addition to the sports program. A strong attribute to the girl’s soccer team last year as well as being the only girl on the baseball team, she returns as a senior for one last football season. Welcoming Genesis with open arms, Claire is thrilled to have another girl in football this year.

“I love [having another girl on the team]! I see myself in [her] too. And I guess since we are all girls, we support and push each other to do good,” Claire said. “We make sure [she] feels like [she is] a part of the team and another important player.”

For these athletes, the social norm does not get in the way of what they love doing. Claire and Genesis are very passionate about playing sports with another gender.

“I enjoy playing with the opposite gender,” Genesis said. “It gives you an opening as to seeing more of the sport.”

As a senior, this is Claire’s last football season. She is excited to see her influence on co-ed sports and have more mixed-gender teams in the future at OVS.

“I am a senior. I’d want to leave hopefully making an impact on players that will be playing in the future. I want to be an inspiration for others,” said Claire.

The team will showcase their skills in their second game of the season on September 20 against Pilgrim School.

“Because you’re female, there’s going to be a little judgment,” concluded Genesis. “I don’t care what people think of me, I do whatever I want because I want to show people what females can do too. We have the same abilities as men.”

College Prep Starts with College Reps

Posted on August 26, 2019 //

College Counselor Fred Alvarez greets new families at Upper Campus.

By Fred Alvarez, College Counselor

NYU. Babson. Savannah College of Art and Design. UC Santa Barbara. Whittier College.

What do they all have in common?

A fair number of OVS graduates have matriculated to these schools in recent years, and each has proven to be an excellent fit for our alums as they navigate college and carve paths toward adulthood.

However, these schools share another common feature: each has faithfully sent a representative to speak to our Upper Campus students for many years. In fact, these five schools are among the more than 20 colleges and universities that already are scheduled to visit the Upper Campus this year.

The importance of these college visits can’t be overstated.

While the colleges and universities who send representatives to our campus clearly have an agenda – they obviously want to “sell” their schools by putting them in the best possible light – they also bring with them valuable information to impart to our seniors and juniors as they formulate their college choices.

Often, that information is about academics, and the myriad programs and educational pursuits available to students.

Did you know that Babson hosts an annual “Shark Tank”-like competition in which students, alumni, faculty and staff team up to create and pitch entrepreneurial projects as they vie for a share of more than $100,000 in cash prizes? Or that at Whittier selected students can design their own majors, customizing the focus of their studies and related research to pursue their passions? Or that UCSB is home to the first-of-its-kind National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, a think tank dedicated to accelerating scientific discoveries designed to enhance the understanding of the world and benefit people and nature?

That’s the kind of information students get when college reps set foot on the Upper Campus, meeting with students – from freshmen to seniors – for up to an hour.

But often the most pertinent information college reps provide has nothing to do with the classroom. College reps speak to the nuances of dorm life, the possibilities of internships and the headache of navigating the financial aid process.

They at all times are talking about the kind of students who thrive at their campuses, and those who don’t, and all the time helping our students figure out the most important question when it comes to college choice: what campus provides the best fit.

Maggie Lucas, one of the California representatives for NYU, is always one of the biggest draws, and she has gotten to know OVS and its students extremely well over the years. That has its benefits. For those who apply, Lucas will be the first reader on their applications. And because she knows our students, having met with many of them personally, she can help talk up their strengths as they move through the application process.

With nearly two dozen students in attendance at the NYU meeting last fall, including several of this year’s seniors, Lucas talked test scores and GPA averages, application deadlines and Advanced Placement credit. But mostly she talked fit, telling our students that most who apply to NYU do so because they connect with the university in fundamental ways.

“We are looking for students who are excited about the urban college experience NYU provides,” Lucas told those in attendance. “There’s not just one quality we are looking for in a student – we want students who are ready to bring their interests and their passions to our campus.”

NYU generally draws the largest number of students of all the college reps who visit. But it doesn’t matter if one student shows up for these college visits or 101. The idea is to expose our students to the breadth of college opportunities that await OVS graduates after they cross our graduation stage.

When it’s all said and done, more than 50 colleges and universities will visit Ojai Valley School this year. And we will add to that number this spring by attending the Tri-County National College Fair at Seaside Park in Ventura, and when we visit colleges either during the winter break or spring break on our school-sponsored college tour.

From a college counseling standpoint, there’s tremendous value in each one of those contacts: each one helps our small world On The Hill grow just a little bit larger.

Sept. 5	LMU (10:00)
Sept. 13	Landmark College (2:00)
Sept. 16	NYU (9:00)
Sept. 17	Denison University (12:40)
Sept. 18	Lafayette College (12:30)
Sept. 20	Chapman University (8:10)
Sept. 20	Columbia University (2:00)
Sept. 23	American University of Paris (11:30)
Sept. 23	Gettysburg College (12:15)
Sept. 23	High Point University (2:00)
Sept. 24	Wheaton College (TBA)
Sept. 27	University of Oregon (8:30)
Sept. 30	Babson College (11:30)
Sept. 30	Bard College (2:30)
Oct. 1	University of Laverne/Cal Poly Pomona (9:30)
Oct. 1	Hult International School of Business
Oct. 1	Whittier College (2:00)
Oct. 2	Suffolk University (8:10)
Oct. 2	UC Riverside (9:00)
Oct. 3	Savannah College of Art and Design (10:00)
Oct. 3	Pacific Northwest College of Art (11:45)
Oct. 7	Case Western Reserve (8:10)
Oct. 7	UC Santa Barbara (10:55)
Oct. 8	Carroll College (9:30)
Oct. 9	The New School (8:15)
Oct. 14	Soka University (11:00)
Oct. 21	Grinnell College (9:30)
Oct. 23	Bucknell College (8:10)
Oct. 24	Linden Tours (multiple colleges visit @ 2:30)
Oct. 28	Salve Regina University (11:00)
Oct. 29	Saint Mary’s College of California (12:30)
Oct. 31	Mills College (10:45)
Nov. 5	University of Redlands (9:30)

Rebuild Begins

Posted on June 17, 2019 //

Ojai Valley School is moving quickly to start construction on three new buildings at the Upper Campus, months after the Thomas Fire destroyed the girls’ dormitory, science and technology center, and other areas of the high school campus.

In the days after the fire, the school community rallied to reopen for the second semester in January 2018, including opening temporary dorms and classrooms. In the months that followed, the OVS Board of Trustees launched a new capital campaign to rebuild and improve the Upper Campus. The school hired Los Angeles-based architect Fred Fisher & Partners to design a new academic and residential center that will include a new dormitory, science and technology center, as well as a two-story student commons with a new library, meeting rooms, dining hall, and kitchen.

“The buildings will be more attractive, more environmentally sustainable, and more fire resistant than anything we had before,” said OVS President/CEO Michael Hall-Mounsey at the groundbreaking. “We will give our high school students modern facilities that encourage collaboration, problem solving, creativity and innovation.”

Four years ago, Fisher’s team produced the Upper Campus Master Plan, which outlined a 20-year plan for future development at the high school. The plan identified a student commons as the project of highest priority, followed by the construction of a gymnasium, new dorms, and future classrooms. The Thomas Fire shifted those priorities with the urgent need to rebuild the girls’ dorm and the science and technology center.

Within weeks of the fire, Fisher’s team began collaborating with OVS teachers, students, parents, and alumni to produce plans for an ensemble of buildings using a mid-century design in keeping with the architectural history of the Upper Campus, most of which was built in the 1960s.

Using glass and stucco exteriors, wood accents, and ample landscaping, the design celebrates views of the Ojai Valley and blurs the lines between inside and outside.

The school has received initial approvals to rebuild and plans to begin construction later this summer. Project completion is estimated for August 2020.

Click here to see more photos of the Groundbreaking during Alumni Weekend 2019.

For updates on the rebuild and to donate, visit campaign.ovs.org

OVS alumni, trustees, past parents, faculty and staff attended the ceremonial groundbreaking for three new buildings at the Upper Campus on June 8.