As the school year draws to a close, I want to send a big thank you to our community for a fantastic year. Together, we have shared so many special moments, watched our students take giant leaps forward, and accomplished many new milestones.
Here are just a few highlights:
We experienced the highest enrollment in our school’s history. Thank you, parents, for spreading the word about the special place we belong to at OFS!
We were voted Best Montessori School for the 7th time in the Washington Family Magazine contest. We are so appreciative of all those in our local and global community who voted!
We rebooted our United Nations Day Festival with a modified format. Dignitaries from 85 embassies in Washington submitted personal video greetings to be shared during our program. Then, after some memorable performances from our students, we celebrated with an international hors d’oeuvres extravaganza. I’m so happy that we resumed this integral OFS event, which gives our students the opportunity to study cultures from around the world and celebrate both the diversity and the unity we have in our community.
OFS Alum Taylor Johnson became the first Guggenheim Poetry Fellow and was designated Poet Laureate of Takoma Park, Maryland! Congratulations Taylor!
Spring trips took the High School students to the Finger Lakes and Rochester, NY, the Ambassador students to New York City and the United Nations, and the Academy and Arbor classes to Echo Hill School on the Chesapeake Bay. These adventures allow our students to spread their wings and begin to see the whole world as their classroom.
Our High School will have five more students graduating this week, for a total of 12 so far. We are proud that all of our graduates to date were accepted to the college of their top choice, with many of them receiving scholarships!
Our Equity Audit Task Force, led by Dr. Val Wise, conducted focus groups with students, parents, staff, alumni, and board members. This was followed by a survey which recently concluded. The results will be shared over the summer, and our Equity Plan will be installed by the fall. Thank you to everyone for joining in this super important initiative.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of our student government, we decided on a mascot for OFS – the Otters! Thanks to all who participated in this process leading to this historic milestone.
Finally, our Theater Program had its first post-Covid show – with a spectacular performance of Maria Montessori: The Musical. Josh Cleveland and Lisa Pawley did a stupendous job co-directing and our student performers and stage crew were phenomenal!
As we returned to normalcy and came together in person again this year, we have so much to be grateful for. And as you see from the list above, we also have SO MUCH to celebrate as the Oneness Family. As we look ahead, let us continue to move onward and upward!
