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

This Month at OVS

Posted on April 17, 2019 //

April 1 – It is all about adventures this month!

The exploration begins on April 5 as the fourth graders cruise to Anacapa Island to participate in restoration work and learn first-hand about the diverse island ecosystem. The trip is part of the school’s partnership with the National Park Service and an example of how OVS embraces hands-on and place-based learning to enrich the curriculum.

Middle and high school students will depart for three separate Spring Break adventures at the end of this week: Equestrians will venture to Montana to trail ride under big skies; middle schoolers will head to northern Spain to explore art museums, kayak the Mediterranean coast, and hike trails in the Pyrenees mountains; and high schoolers will participate on a musical tour of Austria and the Czech Republic.

For many years, OVS has offered optional travel programs to students to broaden their world view and provide opportunities for cultural enrichment. Recent destination have included Iceland, Costa Rica, and Peru.

“The point of international travel at this age is to expose the students to new ways of living, thinking, and learning to love adventure,” said Mike Mahon, assistant Head of School at the Lower Campus.

“When you get middle school kids outside of their comfort zones, they abandon their social hierarchies and are more open to bonding with new peers,” he said. “The relationships they form through experience and adventure continue when we return to campus and the entire student body benefits from the new value they find in each other. It is impossible to hike the Inca trail or a glacier in Iceland and not be forever reminded of the people you shared those experiences with. ”

Back on campus, our youngest students will participate on April 5 in the annual High Tea for grades PK-2. This event encourages primary and elementary students to use their best manners while participating in a formal event attended by parents, grandparents and special guests.

High school students will also attend a formal event this month – Prom! This April 4 social gives our Upper Campus students a well-deserved break following third-quarter grades, preparation for upcoming Advanced Placement exams, and the stress of college applications. So far, 30 seniors have earned more than 140 college acceptances, including — in just the last week — UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, University of Massachusetts, Boston, and Vassar College.

High school students will also continue to participate in spring sports with the tennis, track and field, baseball and golf teams. For upcoming sports contests and events, visit the website calendar.

Lastly, middle school students will participate on their spring backpacking trips this month. These trips are a core part of the OVS experience. Learn more on our outdoor education pages of the website.

Resident Life

Posted on April 17, 2019 //

Chess matches, basketball pick-up games, study hall, Dress Dinner, laughter with friends, and so much more. Resident Life at OVS gives students in grades 3-12 the opportunity to live and learn among their peers with a support of a family-like environment and caring dorm parents. Learn more about the Resident Program under the Student Life tab.

Or learn from the experience of two current parents.

Lew and Joy Dowdy, shared their story of enrolling their daughter, Wendy, five years ago. In May, Wendy will graduate with honors from the Upper Campus and attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, her first-choice college. Here is their story:

“Our visits to OVS Lower Campus remind us of two special moments. The first is when we attended the Open House on January 20, 2014. Notwithstanding our residence in a highly ranked school district, our daughter, Wendy, was languishing in seventh grade. The stressful social environment of her middle school resulted in debilitating headaches which we now realize are common symptoms of anxiety-based ‘school refusal’ syndrome. Although we had never previously considered private school, it was clear a major change was in order.

Our search for an alternative revealed that OVS accepted middle school boarders and offered equestrian P.E. with horses on campus. Not completely convinced that boarding school was the best option for Wendy, we drove north to see the campus for ourselves, and it was love at first sight. Admissions Director Tracy Wilson took the three of us on a campus tour including dropping in on several classes, meeting teachers, and a walk through the equestrian barn and the girls’ dorm. When we got to the Activity Center, we saw a banner that said, ‘Go OVS Spuds.’ What a suspicious (but delightful) coincidence: ‘Spud’ had been Wendy’s family nickname since she was eight months old. It was unanimous; we were sold.

The second special moment came only three days after classes started in September 2014. Wendy phoned home and gushed, ‘I love my classes, and I love my teachers!’ We could not have asked for a more delightful confirmation that enrolling her at OVS was the best decision we could have made.

In the five years since, OVS teachers and staff have become a ‘second family’ for Wendy and us. The Family Weekends, awards and graduation ceremonies, Festivals of Talent, musical productions, teacher conferences, and pink sunsets are now ensconced in our collection of treasured memories. Everyone at this special place has contributed to her academic success, her personal growth, and the noteworthy expansion of her repertoire. We will be forever grateful.”

College Acceptances

Posted on April 15, 2019 //

College acceptances have been rolling in for the Class of 2019! So far, all 31 seniors have earned admission offers from more than 150 colleges and universities worldwide. The list includes large universities in every region of the United States, as well as small liberal arts colleges, elite tech institutes, and colleges overseas. In the past week, students received offers from UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, University of Massachusetts, Boston, and Vassar College.

In some cases, seniors have already committed to their top schools while others are still awaiting for the University of California campuses and private universities to make their announcements.

“It’s an exciting time for our seniors and we enjoy celebrating their successes as a community,” College Counselor Fred Alvarez said. “Our goal all along is to provide the seniors a broad range of great options. Members of the Class of 2019 definitely have those, and more good news is on the way.”

Visit the College Counseling page to see a list of current college acceptances, and check back for more good news for our senior class!

Track is Back

Posted on April 14, 2019 //

Senior Elliot Oechsner is among the runners on the OVS track team. Photos by Alex Alvarez (L18).

By Bella Slosberg (L17)

Track is back – and it’s bigger and better than ever.

After a four-year hiatus, the track program at Upper Campus has reemerged this spring, drawing nearly a third of the student body to run, jump and throw as part of the 12-team Omega League.

From league champion cross country runners to flat-out beginners, athletes of all levels have been working since early February to prepare themselves for the season.

“I chose to run track because it’s such a great community and everybody is so supportive – plus I love running fast,” explained junior Corbin Muller, who this week, in just his second track meet, won the 100-meter dash, earned second place in the 200-meter, third place in the long jump and ran the lead leg on a 4 x 100-meter relay team that finished third.

“My goal for the team is that I want us all to finish better than when we came in,” Corbin said, “as runners and as people.”

After competing in the Condor League for decades, and producing league championships and multiple individual league champions, the OVS track program shut down after the 2014 spring season due to league realignment.

The Cate and Thacher schools left the Condor League after that year, and none of the schools that remained had the facilities to keep their track programs running. However, a move this year to the Omega League has resurrected the track program at Upper, providing a showcase for a slew of talented athletes.

“I’m really happy that our student athletes once again have access to this sport,” track coach Fred Alvarez said. “There’s so much athletic talent at our school and now our track athletes have the opportunity to demonstrate that talent on a large stage.”

Over the past two weeks, that talent has been on full display as the track season has shifted into full gear. Last week, the Spuds competed in their second league meet of the season, with several runners, jumpers and throwers setting personal bests for the early season.

On the boys’ side, the 4 x 100 relay team — which in addition to Corbin featured sophomore Gabe Weisiger (L17), junior Siyu Lai (L16) and senior Soham Kondle — blasted to a third-place finish. Other notable showings included a fifth place finish by Gabe in the 400-meter dash and a personal best effort by sophomore Ethan Gao (L17) in the 800- and 1600-meter runs.

On the girls’ side, sophomore Bella Slosberg (L17) and junior Caspian Ellis (L16) had strong showings in the 800 and 1600, and OVS’s fastest 200-meter runners were a pair of freshmen — Marley Burroughs and CatieJo Larkin (L18), who is new to the sport altogether.

Like many who joined track, CatieJo said she is especially pleased with the team environment and peer support at practices and meets, which make an optimal environment for improvement and motivate runners to challenge themselves, all while having fun and bonding with teammates.

“Track is a lot better that I thought it would be,” said CatieJo, who also ran the 100-meter dash and the lead leg on the 4 x 100-meter relay team in the first meet. “The conditioning is hard but we’re getting into it and it’s becoming really fun.”

Robotics

Posted on April 1, 2019 //

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. Students are further challenged in high school with computer science classes as well as opportunities to get involved in competitive robotics.

Equestrian

Posted on April 1, 2019 //

Our middle school equestrians ventured into the outdoors this past weekend in preparation for their upcoming spring camping trip! Four riders and two instructors explored the trails in the Ventura River Preserve, a protected area for hikers and horseback riders that meanders along the Ventura River in the Ojai Valley. The site offers an excellent venue for the middle school riders to become familiar with water crossings and other challenges when riding out of the campus arena.

“We went down into the river preserve because this is a quiet location with the opportunity to see the water and it is the safest for our group,” said instructor Emily Miller. “On our camp trip, we will ride along the river bed and cross the river, ride in the foothills and in wooded areas.”

It was the second off-campus trail ride for some of the riders, who will be “horse camping” for the first time later this month in the mountains north of Santa Barbara. The opportunity for middle school students to participate on a week-long camping trip with their horses is one of the unique aspects of the OVS equestrian program.

Students also participate in horse camping trips at the high school, and they have the opportunity to join a Spring Break Equestrian Trip. This year, riders are heading to Montana for a western riding experience. In past years, students have ridden cross country in Ireland and trained in classical dressage in Portugal. Learn more on the equestrian pages of the OVS website!

Performing Arts

Posted on March 20, 2019 //

The middle school will perform The Sound of Music during one spectacular show in the Greenberg Activities Center at 3:30 p.m. on March 23 during Spring Family Weekend. Come out and support performing arts at Lower Campus!

Baseball

Posted on March 20, 2019 //

Ojai Valley School’s baseball team continues to have a strong season, with only one loss in league play.

Competitive Robotics

Posted on March 15, 2019 //

The OVS competitive robotics teams participated at the LA/SoCal Regional Championships last weekend, concluding a stellar season in the FIRST Tech Challenge’s robotics league. Teams Spudnik and Spudbot fought hard against 46 other strong teams at the event hosted at Monrovia High School. Although they did not advance to the World Championship in Houston, they are proud of their efforts and excited to have reached regionals. Said Coach Micah Sittig: “This was OVS’s best performance so far in four years of competitive robotics.”

Last month, at the Inter-League Tournament hosted at the Palmdale Aerospace Academy on February 17, Spudnik and Spudbot were ranked 2nd and 4th out of 22 teams after qualifying matches. Joining together as an alliance, they reached the final match and finished as runners-up. This earned them two of seven qualifying spots for the FTC LA/SoCal Regional Championships on March 9.

In addition, Spudnik won a Control Award for innovative thinking in the robot control system, mainly due to the code and documentation written by senior Leo Liang (L15).

This is the fourth year OVS has participated in the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics league. The name of this year’s game was Rover Ruckus, which was space themed and required building a robot that could lift and lower itself from a lander, collect and store minerals in a cargo hold, and place a team marker in a depot.
Both OVS teams ranked near the top of their league during the season with Spudnik placing first out of 22 teams in the combined rankings with Spudbot not far behind.

The season was also noteworthy because OVS hosted an FTC league, League V, at the Greenberg Activities Center at the Lower Campus. Seven teams from different schools and community groups in the Ventura County area met on four Saturdays starting in November and running through January.

In concluding the season, Mr. Sittig and Coach Chris Westcott praised the students who participated this year, and thanked the numerous students, parents, and faculty members who volunteered to make the league events possible.

Astronomy: New Course Offering

Posted on March 1, 2019 //

By Jaclyn Sersland (U19)

Next year, Ojai Valley School students will be shooting for the stars.

Astronomy is becoming the newest high school course offering at Ojai Valley School. Starting in September, 2019, students will have the opportunity to launch into learning about stars, planets, and galaxies.

Astronomy has been on the fence of becoming a new science course for the past couple years. It’s been a widely popular subject amongst students, especially for those who participate in the biannual Mt. Pinos trip, but the course has never taken off.
Until now.

Upper Campus Head of School Craig Floyd knew OVS needed an astronomy class when he went to Austin, Texas, to participate in a meeting that happened to include astronomy classes and an observatory. After seeing the cool things – like viewing Mars through a telescope – that were going on, Mr. Floyd decided that an astronomy course would diversify the school’s science program.

“I got to see what cool things the students in that class were doing,” Mr. Floyd said. “That inspired me to come back and push through this idea of having astronomy as a class and make it happen.”

Wondering who would teach the course next year, Mr. Floyd immediately thought Micah Sittig — current teacher of conceptual chemistry and physics — would be the perfect fit.

When Mr. Sittig was approached and asked if he’d be interested in teaching the new class, he thought it was a great idea and was immediately on board.

“I’ve always wanted to teach astronomy,” Mr. Sitting said. “Then Mr. Floyd approached me and said that a few students have come to him with idea and that’s when I agreed. I’m excited because it’s something I’ve thought about teaching all the time.”

Mr. Sittig already has some ideas for how the class will be laid out. He will teach about the history of astronomy and its major figures, the different types of telescopes, and study the universe.

“We added this course to expand our science offerings,” Mr. Floyd said. “We have the basics of Biology, Chemistry and Physics, and we added Marine Science this year, so we were looking to do this to give another offer for our students, and it seems that a fair number of students have that interest.”

Stargazing is just part of the OVS outdoor education experience, including overnight excursions to Mt. Pinos and camping trips to the eastern Sierras, which offer amazing dark skies and bright stars. Photo by Corbin Muller (U20)