Oak Leaf letsOak Hall School Engaging Minds. Building Character 2 Gainesville, Florida March 2008 Vol. V No. 5

Special FriendS day

On Friday, Feb. 1, the Lower School hosted Special Friends/Grandparents Day. Students invited a guest of their choice to participate in two hours of a normal school day. In many classrooms grandparents, family friends or parents were busy with crafts, sampling music, physical education, Spanish or regular lessons. There was both excitement and pride in many of the students who had an opportunity to showcase their teachers, school and work.Second Grader, Katie Flanagan (pictured left) works on a craft with her grandparents John & Nancy Flanagan.Preschooler, Vishnu Gautam, stands next to his Grandmother Mrs. Gomathi Subramanyan with his siblings near his mother Mrs. Ana Bhattacharyya, after checking out his weekly library book during Special Friends Day.

hoedown FunThe ladies in the Pink Hats, Truitt Oliver and Barb Caputo, along with Maria Samarkos and the admirable help of the Hoedown Committee and parent volunteers hosted a fun outdoor evening at the Remberts’ hospitable and spacious farm. The Western-themed evening raised $102,000 to support school enhancements to technology, classrooms and curriculum.

Photos courtesy of Johnston Photography. View more Hoedown photos online at www.johnstonphoto.com

Left to Right: Ricky and Truitt Oliver, Barb Caputo, Julie and Scott Perry at the beginning of a delightful Hoedown evening.

David Bass, parent of Austin Bass in 7th Grade, rides on the mechanical bull during the Annual Parents Prom/Hoedown which attracted 475 parents and friends.

2 March 2008 A Newsletter for the Oak Hall Community

Oak Hall School would like to extend our thanks to John and Anne Shermyen who have made a significant gift to our school. The Shermyens have designated their gift to three areas: w OHS Endowment for tuition assistance funds w The Fine Arts Division which includes the naming of the band room as “The Roger Nubern Music Room” w The professional development fund for faculty The Shermyen Family’s gift represents a major commitment to the ongoing Capital Campaign which started in 2003.

development corner

Shaelaurel Fiddle Band

Oak Hall School’s Junior and Senior Thespian Troupes under the direction of Dr. William Eyerly performed monologues, solo and duet musical compositions, duet scenes, and even pantomimes at recent drama competitions held in Alachua and Marion Counties. There were many outstanding performances with actors from both troupes qualifying for state and regional competitions. The newly-formed Junior Thespian Troupe #88826 held a first-ever competition at Oak Hall’s Cofrin Theatre with invited guests from several Alachua County public schools. Middle school students Amy Emerson, Sarah Shermyen, Haley Birkle, Manny Marichal, Trevor Schultz, Henry Schott, Sarah Nodine, Colleen McIntosh, Lauren Reece, Amanda Evans, Nicki Myers and Anisha

Ford all took Superior honors. In addition, Haley Birkle won the solo musical category, Henry Schott took the award for best pantomime, and Nicki Myers and Anisha Ford were tops in the duet scene competition. Sarah Shermyen as well as Myers and Ford took home 2nd and 3rd Place honors for best in show respectively. Most of these students together with Jessica Adkins and Mary Henderson who each turned in excellent performances will be traveling to Augusta, Georgia on March 7-9 for the East Regional Junior Thespian Festival. The Senior Thespian Troupe #6405 went into hostile territory for district competition in Ocala, Florida, held at rival West Port High School. In the end, four pieces qualified for state including “Mojo” performed by Keenan Sieg ‘08 and John Gray Shermyen ‘08, individual contrasting

monologues by Gus Edmundson ‘08 and Connor Harrison ‘10, and a solo musical selection “Fine, Fine Line” from Avenue Q performed by Tiffany Johnson ‘09. Perhaps the best performance of the competition was Alexa Nordman’s ‘09 contrasting monologues which were controversially disqualified for exceeding the five minute time limit. “Perhaps if we had been at a neutral site like last year, Alexa would have received the superior rating she clearly deserved,” Will Eyerly pointed out. “As with all competitions athletic or scholastic, the officials have discretion to call things as they see fit, and next time I’ll make certain our pieces are well short of the five minute mark so there can be no question.” Oak Hall’s Jr. and Sr. Thespian troupes are proud affiliates of the International Thespian Society (ITS).

two new FaceS in the eclc

SpellinG Bee update

Iliana Wiechmann (left) a Radiologic Technologist and Rhonda Caridi (right) a Registered Nurse will be stationed on the front desk of the ECLC to welcome your Pre-K through Kindergarten children to our newest building and to take care of them if they feel unwell.

A famous fiddling family, ShaeLaurel, held a training “funshop” to teach and rehearse with string students from our Lower School. ShaeLaurel performed with our viola, violin and cello students to sold-out audiences in the Cofrin Theater on February 16. A big OHS thanks to Ms. Suzanne Bode for organizing this successful program.

Oak Hall School would like to congratulate Sarah Shermyen in 8th Grade on winning the Middle School Spelling Bee. Zain Kabeer is our 5th Grade Spelling Bee Champ who won the Alachua County Bee and will competing at the Regional Spelling Bee in Jacksonville on Saturday, February 23. Good luck Zain!

theSpian competitionS

A Newsletter for the Oak Hall Community March 2008 3

Emily Shore (affectionately known as ‘Tricky Feet’) signed her National Letter of Intent to play soccer for the University of Tennessee on February 6, in OHS gym, witnessed by many friends and family. During Emily’s seven years at OHS, she scored 133 goals and was The Gainesville Sun’s Player of the Year for three years.

On February 13, Katie Robinson signed to attend the College of Charleston to play volleyball. Skyler Neale signed to attend Missouri State to play football. Both of these student athletes have played a huge role in Oak Hall’s success in both athletics and in the Oak Hall School community since Kindergarten.

SeniorS SiGn national letter oF intent

On January 31, six senior athletes and their families were honored in the OHS basketball program. Collectively, the seniors have attended Oak Hall for 56 years. They included Luke DiPerna, Tyler Erikson, Nick Hendricks, Paul Martin, Skyler Neale and Chris Ottenga.

Pictured at Left: Paul Martin has been a student at OHS for seven years and his favorite basketball memories are the bus rides and celebrating victories with the team. Paul is an honor roll member and plans on pursuing a career in orthodontics. Paul’s family Drs. Bill Martin and Judy Banks and his brother David Martin ‘07 came to the celebration.

Senior athleteS honored in BaSketBall proGram

Endowed chairs are among the most significant awards conferred directly to faculty. The Chair recipient holds the title for a four-year term and receives a significant stipend each year to support his/her work and resources for program development that enable educators to pursue projects at the forefront of their fields. Teachers must meet certain criteria and submit a proposal to be considered for a Chair position. Endowed chairs are fundamental to Oak Hall’s mission and enable the school to recruit and retain outstanding faculty. Oak Hall received its first donation for an Endowed Chair in 2004 which is currently held by Lower School 5th Grade Teacher, Patty Petrich. The school’s goal is to have a minimum of ten

endowed chairs. Funding an endowed chair is a great way to honor teachers who impact the lives of our children every day or to memorialize a teacher who made a difference in your own life. The OHS endowment is designed to help sustain programs in perpetuity. Funds are invested, and a portion of the annual earnings are used according to the donor’s wishes, leaving the principal intact. Endowment gifts may be restricted to a specific division or area of support. Anyone wishing to learn more about funding an Endowed Chair or making a gift to the OHS endowment should contact Andrea Shirey, Director of Development at 352-332-3609 ext. 224 or ashirey@oakhall.org.

Since you aSked…what iS an oak hall endowed chair?

Emily Shore Katie Robinson and Skyler Neale

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID Gainesville, FL Permit No. 312

March Events (also check our web page www.oakhall.org)

3/1 SAT (Required for all Juniors)

3/2-7 Fifth Grade Trip to Washington D.C and Williamsburg, VA

3/3 Voicing The Void performance, 7:00 p.m.

3/6 End of Third Quarter

3/7 Teacher Workday (NO CLASSES)

3/8-11 Mini-Break (NO CLASSES)

3/12-14 6th Grade Camp Crystal Trip

3/14 LS Report Cards

Scholastic Responsibility Awards, 12:45 p.m.

3/26 Honor Societies Induction

3/27 Cum Laude Induction Dr. Akey Seminar - Pause for Dinner, 6:30 p.m.

3/27-29 State French Competition

3/31 Fourth Quarterly Tuition Payment Due

4/7-11 Spring Break (NO CLASSES)

8009 S.W. 14th Avenue Gainesville, FL 32607

Mr. John Dickinson shows the thirteen students in his 9th Grade laboratory how to perform pigment chromatography by boiling spinach and extracting and identifying different pigments. Student David Smitherman (not pictured) says he enjoys lab work at Oak Hall as it shows “how things work” which is useful because he aspires to be a mechanical engineer or in the Navy one day.

9th Grade BioloGy laB

Oak Leaflets Editor: Adrienne Child, Designer: Michelle Runyon