All students enrolled in Middle and Upper School Latin courses at Oak Hall School are participating in the Latin Regionals tournament hosted on campus Saturday, Jan. 28.
All Latin students compete at regionals in the hopes to be chosen for the state tournament. This year, about 86 students from Oak Hall School will be competing. In total, there are usually around 150 students competing from all the schools in the tournament. This year those schools include Oak Hall, St. Francis, Cornerstone, and Forest High School.
“I’m excited for all of the new students who haven’t been to regionals to experience it and for some of the veterans to be able to kind of show the ropes to the new generation of Latin students,” said Zachary Mair, one of Oak Hall’s Latin teachers.
Students participate in academic testing, Certamen (a Jeopardy-style competition), racing events ala Olympics-style, wear costumes, and participate in art. Minus the testing and Certamen, OHS Latin Club officers organized the regional competition.
Oak Hall’s Latin Program, the Junior Classical League (JCL), has been competing at regionals for decades and is considered one of the biggest classics programs in the region and quite possibly the state.
Oak Hall regularly has success in the regionals, as Oak Hall is designed to prepare students on a national level. Mair also noted his hope for the turnout of the competition.
“I hope [this is] a starting line for looking toward states… I’m hoping that students [really] put in that effort and get the award that they deserve for the input that they gave,” he said.
Senior and student-athlete Dylan Provencher has been very successful both on and off the playing field during his time at Oak Hall School (OHS). He joined the OHS community in fourth grade after moving to Gainesville. Since his enrollment, Provencher has played a major role in athletics and academics, becoming a leader of his peers.
Having started tackle football in sixth grade, Provencher has further developed his skills and passion for the sport. As starting tight end of the OHS varsity football team, he has been essential to the team’s success, playing nearly every snap. “He has been a true leader in the classroom, on the field and in the Oak Hall community,” OHS Football Head Coach RJ Fuhr stated. “We will miss him dearly, but we are so excited for his future.”
Provencher has received many Division 3 offers. His success in the classroom has contributed to these offers coming through, as each school has a high level of academic prowess. Provencher has committed to spend the next four years playing football at Carnegie Mellon University. “He has worked so hard and to get the opportunity to attend one of the top engineering schools in the country and to play football at the collegiate level is amazing and so well deserved for Dylan,” Fuhr stressed.
Provencher continued his love of being active by joining the basketball program in sixth grade. Provencher began his basketball career in the Community Sports League in his first year at OHS. When he entered middle school, he played travel basketball. “That was a super competitive atmosphere, but I’ve enjoyed it,” Provencher explained.
Although he only joined the OHS Track and Field program last year, Provencher became a strong member of the team quite quickly. He joined the team to increase his speed for football and became an important specialist in the shot put and 100-meter dash. “It’s good to be a multi-sport athlete because you train different muscles, which is just good for you,” Provencher added.
Provencher has been determined to maintain his excellent achievement in the classroom on top of being a three-sport athlete. “You don’t necessarily have to sacrifice something greatly,” Provencher noted. After several years of immersing himself in numerous clubs, honor societies, and AP-level courses, Provencher’s hard work has paid off. We look forward to seeing all he accomplishes at Carnegie Mellon!
A – Advice you’d give your freshman-self? Stay in school. B – Best pre-game meal? Chick-Fil-A. C – Coach’s best words of advice? Catch the ball. D – Favorite dessert? Ice cream. E – Most entertaining class? Westfall. F – Favorite high school moment? Probably a class trip or something. G – Goals for your senior year? Get into a good college. ::side note: which he did! The interview was recorded before he was accepted into Carnegie Mellon:: H – Hoping to attend which college? Dartmouth. [Filmed before decision announcement] I – Interesting thing you do besides sports? Chess. J – Favorite joke? I have no idea! K – Keys to maintaining homework? Just know that it will be worth it in the end if you do your homework. L – Least favorite practice drill? Probably like up-downs. M – Music you listen to? Hip Hop. N – Netflix or Hulu? Netflix. O – What other sport would you like to try? Rugby. P – Preparations for a big game include? Focusing mentally. Q – Question you would ask your future self? What should I be doing differently now? R – Most relaxing part of your day? When I get home at night. S – What would your senior superlative be? I have no idea. T – Favorite TV show? There’s this show called Shooter. U – Most underrated pet? Sea otter. V – Favorite vacation spot? The beach? I don’t know. W – What does it mean to you to be an Eagle? It means you gotta push yourself and work hard. X – How many x-rays have you had? I think 4, 3. Y – Your impact to younger athletes on the team? I think my impact has been trying to let people know that you can focus academically and athletically. Z – What is your zodiac sign? Aquarius.
In this episode of The Hall Hub, Marcello chats with boys varsity basketball player Ryan McKinney. They chat about the progress of this season, what’s ahead for the district tournament, and how this team compares to last season’s.
For the first time in school history, Oak Hall school has a Competitive Gameday Cheerleading team. This team has had an amazing run this season from showcasing their routine at qualifiers, to placing at regionals, and finally on the road to nationals.
On Dec. 2, 2022, the Oak Hall Gameday squad went to the regional competition in Tampa. At this competition, the team scored second place out of eight teams in the division and qualified to compete at Nationals, a significant accomplishment for a brand-new team.
While Oak Hall does have a traditional Competitive Cheerleading team, Gameday is a different routine altogether. While traditional competitive is flashier and is focused on advanced stunting, Gameday showcases what you would see on the sideline at a Friday night football game. The spotlight is on crowd-leading, cheers, and band dances, rather than pyramids and jumps.
In mid-February, the team will travel to the Wide World of Sports in Orlando to compete at Nationals. This competition lasts multiple days and includes two rounds of competition, semi-finals, and finals. In addition to competing, the team also gets to spend time at Disney together in their time off from cheer. Wish them luck!
While some people think of Martin Luther King Day, they might just think about a day off of school or work, but there is so much more to this holiday.
We celebrate MLK day to honor the life and work of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King was an American Baptist minister and, more importantly, a civil rights activist during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s, who promoted peaceful disobedience and led protests to take a stand against segregation, some of which got violent toward the protestors. One of his greatest accomplishments was the bus boycott. Lasting 382 days, African Americans did not ride busses until the Supreme Court declared segregation on busses unconstitutional on December 21, 1956. According to www.nobelprize.org, “During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.”
Dr. King was an excellent public speaker and inspired so many people then and now with his speeches. His most famous speech is his “I Have A Dream” speech, which he gave on the footsteps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 in front of 250,000 people.
As a school, Oak Hall celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. King by taking the day off from school, but also held a special assembly for the Upper School students to remind us about the sacrifices that were made. This year Oak Hall was lucky to have Mrs. Caronne Rush talk to us about the great work of Dr. King, allowing all of us to coexist in peace.
As we have the day off from school and work, I hope that we can take some time to appreciate and reflect on how far we have come thanks to Dr. King and see that there is still more that we can be doing to make this country and the world a better, safer place for people of all ages, sexualities, ethnicities, and races.
