Jim Andersen, Head of Upper School

May 3, 2024

“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”  - B.B. King

Owl Family,

• 4.2 Progress Reports

• AP Exams 

• Final Exams

• Academic Recognition Ceremony

• Juniors Navy Polo shirts begin on Monday, May 6

• Senior events and Timeline to Graduation

• Graduation Program and Script

• Senior Dinner 

• Senior Dinner Speaker- Dr. Niki Wolfe

• Drone Competition 

4.2 PROGRESS REPORTS: The 4.2 Progress reports are accessible from your My Backpack portal.  Click on Marking Period Grades and Comments to view your child’s current grades as we head into final exams.  

AP EXAMS: AP Exams begin on Monday, May 6. Morning exams will begin at 7:45 AM and afternoon exams will begin at Noon. Room locations will be posted on the door of the Upper School Office and the College Advising Office. Testers will have short breaks so they should bring snacks. Of course, they will need the usual #2 pencils, pens, and a fully charged calculator. If you have not paid the exam fee ($100 per exam), please send a check or cash to College Advising Office or you can pay online here. On the day of an AP exam a student is allowed to not attend classes. Students should touch base with their teachers if they will miss a class. The dress for AP exams is non-uniform dress.  Students need to refer to the US Handbook for proper attire criteria.

FINAL EXAMS: Final exams are the week of May 20.  The daily exams are given from 8:30-10:00 and 10:30-12:00.  Students are expected to be in uniform dress. Please be sure that students arrive a minimum of 15 minutes prior to their exam time. The exams are given in each teacher’s room and will rotate by the period in which they have each class.  

• Monday, May 20 exams- Periods 1 exam- 8:00am  Period 2 exam- 10:30am
• Tuesday, May 21 exams- Period 3 exam 8:00am  Period 4 exam- 10:30am
• Wednesday, May 22 exams- Period 5 exams 8:00am Period 6 exams- 10:30am
• Thursday, May 23 exams- Period 7 exams 8:00am Period 8 exams- 10:30am
• Friday, May 24 exams- Make-up exams

Students only need to attend classes for which they have an exam. Exam week has a 12:00 p.m. early dismissal each day.  

ACADEMIC RECOGNITION CEREMONY: The end of year Academic Recognition Ceremony is on Friday, May 17 at 10:00am in the Fine Arts Performance Hall.  As we look at our philosophy, mission statement, and Portrait of an Oakridge Graduate, this year’s awards will mirror these important documents.  The faculty voted on a student from each grade level that exemplifies the following categories:  Discovery, Leadership, Empathy, Growth, Creativity and Creative Thinking, Curiosity and Life-long Learning, Collaborator, and the Mission Award.  Each student awarded these during their time in the Upper School will wear an associated colored honor cord at graduation. This is a change from awarding pure academic achievement awards.

JUNIOR NAVY SHIRTS: Juniors “graduate” to wearing their senior navy polo shirts this Monday, May 6.  

SENIOR EVENTS AND TIMELINE TO GRADUATION  It is difficult to believe that we are wrapping up the year and approaching graduation. There are many events between now and then. The Senior Timeline is a great guide to all of the events.

GRADUATION PROGRAM AND SCRIPT: College Advising coordinates the graduation program and the student bios that are read at graduation. We need your help gathering this information. Please complete the Graduation Form. We will also need copies of all admit and scholarship letters. You are welcome to forward the copies via email to Coach DaSilva or upload them into the graduation form. Students can also check their Scoir My Drive folder to confirm if we have the letters.

SENIOR DINNER: Now is the time to begin making reservations for our Senior Dinner event scheduled for May 15 at 6:00 p.m. in the Oakridge Student Activities Center.  

• To reserve your spot and make your dinner selection, click the link RSVP. This year's menu includes a chicken, pork, and vegetarian option. Please communicate with Mr. Renshaw if you have special dietary requests other than the three menu options. Please make your reservations no later than May 5.   
• Dinner for the graduating senior is free, but each additional reservation has a cost of $30. After making your reservation, each graduate should see Mr. Renshaw to make a seating choice (if you have seating preferences, please send a note about that along with your graduate when s/he visits Mr. Renshaw).
• SENIOR DINNER SPEAKER: Our Senior Dinner faculty speaker (selected by the senior class) is Dr. Niki Wolfe! 

DRONE COMPETITION RESULTS: Oakridge Drone Team took 1st place in the line of sight annual ARISE Drone Engineering competition with 1,365,250 points.  Oakridge is the first and only team to ever break the million point barrier in this national event. Team members were team captain Ellie Fields, pilot Nicholas Smith, presentation lead Zari Lawson-Kennedy, FPV lead Landen Barnett and Dhilan Rohatgi on Q Ground Control telemetry station. 

Please note the dates for the US May Calendar

The  Upper School Team