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Features

A Final Goodbye

By Tori Kitchens

With less than a month before graduation, I reached out to the Class of 2023 to hear about their year, their time at Oak Hall School (OHS), and what’s to come.

Senior year is a year like no other. We receive privileges we have waited for, we get taught about the real world, and we make memories that will last a lifetime. This year’s graduating class would like to thank Mr. Malloy for making this year so special for us.

But it’s far from over. Currently, we’re working on our senior projects, our senior trip to Key West is right around the corner, and the graduation walk with our kindergarten buddies will be a highlight right before graduation.

Some favorites from the year:

For Neil Ruth and many others, he enjoyed winning all the Homecoming grade-level games. The seniors won both powderpuff events and capture the card back in October. For Jenna McDowell, she enjoyed getting to know everyone in the senior class. Lifer Kate Pickens loved bonding with everyone and getting to know people in other grades. Bailey Thorp enjoyed the senior meals, and Mia Kuhn loved having lunch off-campus. Gwynn Munger and Julia Gordan liked spending time in the college counseling suite.

The Kindergarten Buddy program was something we were all excited for. Lifer Emily Malloy has a very special connection with her buddy. “From working in the ECLC, I have known Jasper and his family for a while,” she told me. “He is so special and brings a smile to my face every day. I am so blessed to have him and his family in my life.”

Whether you arrived on campus only a year ago or you have been here since the very beginning, thank you to the Class of 2023 for an amazing time at OHS. The friendships and connections I have made with my classmates this year is something that I will cherish forever, and I am so excited to cheer everyone on in this next chapter.

Here is some advice to our younger OHS students:

“Just because you like something others don’t, don’t change what you like to be known or popular,” McDowell pointed out, “You like what YOU want to, not what others around you like.”

“It’s okay to make mistakes, it is okay to take it easy,” lifer Blake Cornwell stated. He emphasizes the fact that academia is not the sole reason for living and to not put too much pressure on yourself. Emily Malloy mentioned that your character shines through as mistakes happen.

“Make some good memories that last a lifetime,” Neil Ruth explained. “You’re in high school once.”

“Enjoy your time while you are at Oak Hall, you are really lucky to go to a school like this and will appreciate it when you are older,” Pickens said. “Just savor every minute because it goes by crazy fast.”

Here is a list of the colleges the Class of 2023 will be attending:
American University
Auburn University
Baylor University
Belmont Abbey College
Carnegie Melon University
Flagler College
Florida A&M University
Florida International University
Florida State University
George Washington University
Jacksonville University
John Hopkins University
Loyola Marymount University
Mississippi State University
Newberry College
Oregon State University
Santa Fe Community College
Savannah College of Art and Design
Sewanee: The University of the South
The New School
Trinity College Dublin
University of Chicago
University of Florida
University of North Florida
University of South Florida
Vanderbilt University
Wake Forest University
Yale University

Features

Alumni Update: Anita Coleman C/O 1990

By Bailey Thorp

In 1987, junior Anita Webster (née Coleman) decided to enroll at Oak Hall School (OHS) after previously attending Southside Baptist Christian Academy. One of the main reasons for the change was to further challenge herself academically. During her time at OHS, she was a member of the cheerleading squad, theatre class, and yearbook. Her favorite senior traditions were engraving her name in the stone near the softball fields and being able to leave campus for lunch. She graduated in 1990 alongside around 20 other classmates. 

Going into her first year of college, Webster notes that she had an amazing foundation due to the education she received and study habits that she learned at OHS. She went on to attend Florida State University for her freshman year of college and then transferred to the University of Florida, where she majored in journalism. She wrote for The Alligator and later graduated with her Bachelors in Journalism and Communications. While tutoring for UF, she fell in love with teaching and became an English and Journalism Professor at Santa Fe College. She then went on to receive her masters in English at Georgia Southern University. 

When asked what has changed since her time on Oak Hall’s campus, Webster notes that the buildings are getting larger, and that the campus has expanded greatly. Although the campus has grown since 1990, Webster emphasized how the feeling of community still exists. There is still the “Oak Hall Family” that was present in her years at Oak Hall. This “family” was her support system during her three years at OHS and continued to aid and support her even after she graduated.

Her favorite teachers were Eileen McCarthy-Smith, her adviser and English teacher, and Michael Beistle, her theatre, history, and English teacher. Webster recalls an instance of this never-ending support from faculty during her time in graduate school. When she was overwhelmed with the amount of work that she had to complete for her thesis, she ran into McCarthy-Smith. Her former teacher encouraged Webster and gave her a book that broke down the writing process into simpler terms. “I could not have survived the thesis without [McCarthy’s] support,” she said. 

This idea of a constant support system and feeling of family that has lasted decades shows just how accurate the Oak Hall mission statement is. The school truly is supportive and welcoming, which was a selling point for Webster. For her, this encouragement in the conservation of the arts is what convinced her to send her daughter Arabella, a talented visual artist, to school at Oak Hall. When looking for schools to enroll her daughter in, Webster was wary of the public school system. “I knew that the Alachua County School system was really not valuing the arts,” she said. She then looked at Oak Hall and was sold on the Arts Conservatory Program and the amount of space and effort dedicated to the arts.  

Even though she graduated more than 30 years ago, and the campus has grown, the warmth of the community hasn’t changed. “Even though there have been different policies that have come and gone, that same visceral feeling of community has stayed the same,” Webster noted.