March 2008 - Oak Hall School

Oak LeafletsOak Hall School Engaging Minds. Building Character 2 Gainesville, Florida March 2008 Vol. V No. 5Special FriendS dayOn Friday, Feb. 1, the Lower School hosted Special Friends/Grandparents Day. Students invited a guest of their choice to participatein two hours of a normal school day. In many classrooms grandparents, family friends or parents were busy with crafts, samplingmusic, physical education, Spanish or regular lessons. There was both excitement and pride in many of the students who had anopportunity 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 motherMrs. 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 HoedownCommittee and parent volunteers hosted a fun outdoor evening at the Remberts’ hospitable and spacious farm. The Western-themedevening raised $102,000 to support school enhancements to technology, classrooms and curriculum.Left to Right: Ricky and Truitt Oliver, Barb Caputo, Julie and ScottPerry at the beginning of a delightful Hoedown evening.David Bass, parent of Austin Bass in 7th Grade, rideson the mechanical bull during the Annual Parents Prom/Hoedown which attracted 475 parents and friends.Photos courtesy of Johnston Photography. View more Hoedown photos online at www.johnstonphoto.com

2 March 2008 A Newsletter for the Oak Hall Communitytwo new FaceS in the eclcIliana Wiechmann (left) a Radiologic Technologist and RhondaCaridi (right) a Registered Nurse will be stationed on the frontdesk of the ECLC to welcome your Pre-K through Kindergartenchildren to our newest building and to take care of them if theyfeel unwell.development cornerOak Hall School would like to extend our thanks to Johnand Anne Shermyen who have made a significant gift toour school. The Shermyens have designated their gift tothree areas:• OHS Endowment for tuition assistance funds• The Fine Arts Division which includes the naming ofthe band room as “The Roger Nubern Music Room”• The professional development fund for facultyThe Shermyen Family’s gift represents a major commitmentto the ongoing Capital Campaign which started in 2003.Shaelaurel Fiddle BandA famous fiddling family, ShaeLaurel, held a training “funshop”to teach and rehearse with string students from our LowerSchool. ShaeLaurel performed with our viola, violin and cellostudents to sold-out audiences in the Cofrin Theater on February16. A big OHS thanks to Ms. Suzanne Bode for organizing thissuccessful program.SpellinG Bee updateOak Hall School would like to congratulate SarahShermyen in 8th Grade on winning the Middle SchoolSpelling Bee.Zain Kabeer is our 5th Grade Spelling Bee Champ whowon the Alachua County Bee and will competing at theRegional Spelling Bee in Jacksonville on Saturday, February23. Good luck Zain!theSpian competitionSOak Hall School’s Junior and SeniorThespian Troupes under the direction ofDr. William Eyerly performedmonologues, solo and duet musicalcompositions, duet scenes, andeven pantomimes at recent dramacompetitions held in Alachua and MarionCounties. There were many outstandingperformances with actors from bothtroupes qualifying for state and regionalcompetitions.The newly-formed Junior ThespianTroupe #88826 held a first-evercompetition at Oak Hall’s Cofrin Theatrewith invited guests from several AlachuaCounty public schools. Middle schoolstudents Amy Emerson, Sarah Shermyen,Haley Birkle, Manny Marichal, TrevorSchultz, Henry Schott, Sarah Nodine,Colleen McIntosh, Lauren Reece,Amanda Evans, Nicki Myers and AnishaFord all took Superior honors. In addition,Haley Birkle won the solo musicalcategory, Henry Schott took the awardfor best pantomime, and Nicki Myers andAnisha Ford were tops in the duet scenecompetition. Sarah Shermyen as well asMyers and Ford took home 2nd and 3rdPlace honors for best in show respectively.Most of these students together withJessica Adkins and Mary Henderson whoeach turned in excellent performances willbe traveling to Augusta, Georgia on March7-9 for the East Regional Junior ThespianFestival.The Senior Thespian Troupe #6405went into hostile territory for districtcompetition in Ocala, Florida, held at rivalWest Port High School. In the end, fourpieces qualified for state including “Mojo”performed by Keenan Sieg ‘08 and JohnGray Shermyen ‘08, individual contrastingmonologues by Gus Edmundson ‘08 andConnor Harrison ‘10, and a solo musicalselection “Fine, Fine Line” from Avenue Qperformed by Tiffany Johnson ‘09. Perhapsthe best performance of the competitionwas Alexa Nordman’s ‘09 contrastingmonologues which were controversiallydisqualified for exceeding the five minutetime limit.“Perhaps if we had been at a neutralsite like last year, Alexa would have receivedthe superior rating she clearly deserved,”Will Eyerly pointed out. “As with allcompetitions athletic or scholastic, theofficials have discretion to call things asthey see fit, and next time I’ll make certainour pieces are well short of the five minutemark so there can be no question.”Oak Hall’s Jr. and Sr. Thespian troupesare proud affiliates of the InternationalThespian Society (ITS).

A Newsletter for the Oak Hall Community March 2008 3Senior athleteS honored in BaSketBall proGramOn January 31, six senior athletes and their families were honored inthe OHS basketball program. Collectively, the seniors have attendedOak 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 forseven years and his favorite basketball memories are the bus rides andcelebrating victories with the team. Paul is an honor roll member andplans on pursuing a career in orthodontics. Paul’s family Drs. BillMartin and Judy Banks and his brother David Martin ‘07 came tothe celebration.SeniorS SiGn national letter oF intentEmily Shore (affectionatelyknown as ‘Tricky Feet’) signedher National Letter of Intent toplay soccer for the University ofTennessee on February 6, in OHSgym, witnessed by many friendsand family. During Emily’s sevenyears at OHS, she scored 133 goalsand was The Gainesville Sun’s Playerof the Year for three years.On February 13, KatieRobinson signed to attend theCollege of Charleston to playvolleyball. Skyler Neale signed toEmily ShoreKatie Robinson and Skyler Nealeattend Missouri State to play football. Both of these student athletes have played a huge role in Oak Hall’s success in both athleticsand in the Oak Hall School community since Kindergarten.Since you aSked…what iS an oak hall endowed chair?Endowed chairs are among the most significant awardsconferred directly to faculty. The Chair recipient holds the titlefor a four-year term and receives a significant stipend each yearto support his/her work and resources for program developmentthat enable educators to pursue projects at the forefront of theirfields. Teachers must meet certain criteria and submit a proposalto be considered for a Chair position.Endowed chairs are fundamental to Oak Hall’s mission andenable the school to recruit and retain outstanding faculty. OakHall received its first donation for an Endowed Chair in 2004which is currently held by Lower School 5th Grade Teacher,Patty Petrich. The school’s goal is to have a minimum of tenendowed chairs. Funding an endowed chair is a great way tohonor teachers who impact the lives of our children every dayor to memorialize a teacher who made a difference in your ownlife.The OHS endowment is designed to help sustain programsin perpetuity. Funds are invested, and a portion of the annualearnings are used according to the donor’s wishes, leavingthe principal intact. Endowment gifts may be restricted to aspecific division or area of support. Anyone wishing to learnmore about funding an Endowed Chair or making a gift to theOHS endowment should contact Andrea Shirey, Director ofDevelopment at 352-332-3609 ext. 224 or ashirey@oakhall.org.