Jim Andersen, Head of Upper School

May 10, 2024

"Before anything else, preparation is the key to success." - Alexander Graham Bell

Owl Family,

• Review Week
• Drumline Auditions
• Tennis SPC Results
• Other SPC Championship Results
• Final Exams
• Academic Recognition Ceremony
• Senior events and Timeline to Graduation
• Senior Dinner 
• Senior Dinner Speaker- Dr. Niki Wolfe
• Senior Graduation Cap Decorating
• Student Council Executive Officers for 2024-2025

REVIEW WEEK: The week of May 13-17 is dedicated to reviewing for exams the following week.  Students are required to attend.  Friday, May 17 is a normal A day with the exception of our Upper School Awards ceremony beginning at 10:00.

DRUMLINE AUDITIONS: Auditions for the 2024-2025 Drumline are May 13th and 14th. Monday, May 13th serves as an informational meeting and clinic with current Drumline members where you will go over audition material. Tuesday, May 14th is the audition. Both sessions start at 3:20. The clinic and auditions will finish no later than 4:30 each day. Any interested 8th, 9th, or 10th graders should plan to be at both days (it is okay to miss your afternoon athletics).  Come be a part of the loudest spirit group on campus and have a lot of fun at the same time! No music background required (but it is helpful). 

Please see Mr. Stewart if you have any questions

TENNIS SPC RESULTS: Both the boys and girls tennis teams competed in the SPC tournament Wednesday through Saturday this past week.  

Our girls played some solid tennis against some tough competition.  Eva Kovachev won both of her matches against Houston Christian's and St. Andrew's #1 singles players.  Her season record is 11 and 1.

Our boys beat ESD (4 matches to 1 match) in the second round.  Cole O'Leary, Austin Jones, Arthur Jin, Raj Ruprai, and Aadit Mehta all won their matches.  They advanced to the next round on Saturday, and nearly beat Houston Christian.  Cole O'Leary and Arthur Jin won their singles matches.

Way to go Owls!

OTHER SPC RESULTS: Our Girl’s Golf squad had a great SPC Tournament and finished 3rd as a team.  Annalies Joiner finished 2nd individually and Emma Foster finished 5th overall.  In track and field Cole Worthington was SPC Champion in the 110m hurdles.  Tank Thomas finished 1st in the shotput and 3rd in discus. Tyler Hall finished third in the 200m.  Rocco Guervara and Karina Wheeler both broke decade-old Oakridge records in the 800m race.

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 12:00pm 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.

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.

SENIOR DINNER: Now is the time to begin making reservations for our Senior Dinner event scheduled for May 15 at 6 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 Diner faculty speaker(selected by the senior class) is Dr. Niki Wolfe! 

SENIOR GRADUATION CAP DECORATING: Thank you to college advising for our pizza lunch and cap decorating in the commons this week!  We have some very creative and artistic seniors!  We also celebrated our National Merit students!

STUDENT COUNCIL EXECUTIVE OFFICERS 2024-2025: The Upper School (including our rising 9th graders) elected the executive board for the coming year.  Congratulations to President- Iman Yunus, Vice President- Landen Barnett, Treasurer- Ben Tanner, and Treasurer- Dylan Goodrich.

Experiential learning is developing knowledge and skills from direct experience - learning through action. Please click here to view next year's 2025 Oakridge school trips. There you will find important trip information such as itinerary, flights, packing list, and other essential materials.

Please note the dates for the US May Calendar

 

 

The  Upper School Team