Robert R. Peterson
Head of School
August 8, 2011
The faculty, administration and the maintenance team are busy putting the final touches on plans and readiness for the 2011-2012 school year. The start of Oakwood’s sixteenth year is just around the corner, and I am confident that it will be another extraordinary year. Louise Haney, Oakwood’s Admission’s Director, has been extremely busy this summer and over forty new students will be joining Oakwood on August 24th. Summer camps are winding down and athletes are already back on campus and hard at work preparing for the upcoming season. I am eager to greet students at all grade levels when they arrive on campus for the first day of school in less than three weeks.
The summer of 2011 has been an exciting one for the Peterson clan. First, on the Fourth of July our son, Bobby, announced his engagement to a wonderful young woman from Rapid City, South Dakota, whom he met his junior year in college while enrolled in the University of Virginia’s “Semester at Sea.” Grace and Bobby traveled around the world together that spring and have been together the past two years in New Orleans where he is a golf professional and she is a Teach for America educator. We had the wonderful opportunity to meet his future in-laws who were vacationing in Charleston, SC, over the Fourth.
This weekend I had the honor of escorting our daughter, Carolyn, down the aisle for her marriage to Teddy Nadler. As I walked Carolyn to the altar, my mind flashed back to her first day of nursery school when I walked her up the steps to her school. The years marched by too quickly, and Carolyn is now a married woman who teaches second graders at Trevor Day School in NYC. Gini and I are so thankful for our two children and when we see you with your youngsters at Oakwood, we are envious of all the landmarks and special times that you will share with your children. Being parents is a wonderful gift.
While in New England for the second time this summer, I had the opportunity to continue promoting Oakwood and our outstanding students with college admissions directors. This time around I had appointments at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and New York University. Oakwood’s Class of 2012 will be the largest in the school’s history – double last year’s graduating class of 10. This year once again, I will enjoy working with Michelle Graziosi, Oakwood’s College Placement Director, as our seniors apply to various universities and colleges around the state, the South, and in New England.
I am excited to share with you the news from the school as well as about the last minute details pertaining to the start of the year. Christine Barker has asked me to remind you to send in all the forms that were sent home in the July mailing. She has forms from over 80% of the parents and would like to have all in as soon as possible so she can finalize each of these important lists and our school directory. I have included in this mailing the following information for your reference:
Back-to-School Meet and Greet and Volunteer Fair August 23rd 4:30pm – 6:30pm
Please consult the Events Calendar on the Oakwood website in order to mark important school dates on your home calendar as soon as possible. On the left side of the homepage is a section titled Upcoming Events and under that is a link titled Events Calendar, which includes all special event dates for the 11-12 school year that have been scheduled to date. This Events Calendar is updated weekly during the school year. I also urge you to read the Parent/Student Handbook, which is stored on the school’s web pages under the link for each division of the school. The Handbook gives in-depth information regarding all the procedures and policies that govern the operation of the school. If you have any trouble accessing The Handbook, please call the school.
I am pleased to announce our other new faculty members who will be joining us along with Ileana Rojas-Bennett, Kathryn Sauls, Joshua Steele, and Derek Swart, whom I wrote to you about in July. Our new 8th grade Spanish teacher is Giselle Sundwall. Giselle joins our faculty with a multifaceted background. She is a new parent to The Oakwood School this year as well as the new Spanish instructor. Her daughter Laura will be in 5th grade and her son Leif will be in Kindergarten. Giselle speaks fluent Spanish. She worked many years at the United States Embassy in Panama City, Panama. She taught English as a foreign language in adult advanced level classes while in Panama. Giselle also worked as the International Military Education and Training program manager. Giselle is excited to begin teaching at The Oakwood School. We welcome her, her husband Gavin and their children to our Oakwood community.
Mr. Chris Nunnally has been hired as our new strings teacher replacing Kirsten Swanson who has accepted an adjunct professor’s position at UNC Charlotte. I am excited for Chris to be working at The Oakwood School. An extremely talented musician, Chris completed his music education at ECU before heading to New York City where he performed with various strings ensembles and taught aspiring young strings players at the Ross School in East Hampton, NY. He instructed private and group cello lessons as well as assisted with chamber music coaching and development for five years. A native of Greenville, Chris returned home to practice law and to help with the revitalization of downtown. An important aspect of Chris’ work is that he started his own strings studio, The West Side Cello School, in the historic Higgs neighborhood in Greenville. Chris has lots of exciting ideas for the strings program at Oakwood and Erin Scully, Chair of the Arts Department, and I are thrilled that he will be working with our youn g strings students.
Ernest Gorham, Keisha Stanley, Herbert Simms and George Martin deserve kudos for the jobs they are doing to prepare the campus for the start of school on August 24th. The grounds are groomed and look spectacular. The fields are mowed and green and all the hedges are trimmed. The play yards are ready for the children’s arrival as well. George has been working diligently to keep up with the many teacher requests for classroom improvements between the many hours he spends on the lawn mower. Mr. Simms has painted many hallways and classrooms while Ernest and Keisha have washed rugs, polished floors, and deep cleaned behind furniture and in hard-to-reach corners. Our four buildings sparkle, thanks to their Herculean efforts.
I will be back in the office on August 11th. If I can help any of you with anything, please set up a time to meet with Christine Barker. School starts on August 24th and until then, all best wishes for a healthy and happy ending to summer vacation.
Sincerely,
Robert R. Peterson
Head of School
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