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Chris Westcott, Ivy Sun (U19), Leo Liang (L15, U19) and Micah Sittig at robotics competition at OVS Lower Campus.
By Aaron Wolf (L16)
After years of helping build the robotics program from scratch, OVS alum Leo Liang (L15, U19) is returning to take part in Saturday’s inter-league robotics tournament in Palmdale, where 25 teams will vie for the opportunity to compete in the state regional meet.
But this time he’s not building the robots, he’s judging them.
After joining a robotics network for alumni of the competitions he took part in during high school, Leo received his refereeing credentials and accepted an invitation from OVS computer science teacher Christopher Westcott to take part in the first robotics meet of the season.
But he didn’t stop there. Leo will once again don the striped referee jersey on Saturday, flying in from the University of Michigan — where he is earning a computer science degree — just to help judge the inter-league competition.
“I wanted to give back to OVS as well as the FIRST robotics program, which has shaped me so much,” Leo said.
When Leo came from Lower Campus to high school, his genius was already the subject of much excitement among the Upper faculty.
His mastery of multiple programming languages, an undying respect for the jetliner, and the artful aeronautical engineering that allowed Leo to spend countless hours simulating and piloting numerous flight plans on his beloved flight simulator, gave Leo the basic skills he needed to help him thrive in the robotics lab.
But above all, the thing that stood out most about Leo was his knowledge of devices as simple as a motor and as complex as the processor in his surface pro, the same laptop he used to write tens of thousands of lines of code during his high school tenure.
What few people knew about Leo, however, was his lack of experience in robotics going into his freshman year, where he immediately took on an important role as programmer and robot builder.
The robotics program at Upper follows the guidelines of the First Tech Challenge, which is the third of four First robotics levels of competition. First Tech Challenge, or FTC, currently oversees 6,509 official teams in the 2019-2020 season, where OVS teams are working hard in the first year without their founding members, who include Leo and alum Ivy Sun (L15, U19), who is studying at UCLA.
“When I first joined robotics, I knew nothing about it, except some programming skills,” Leo said. “I could understand the software aspect of robotics, but I knew nothing about the hardware and the electrical aspect. I gradually learned from Mr. Westcott, who has mentored FTC teams before, how electrically the robot works.”
This interest, although originating with a message from his former mentor Mr. Westcott, now spans far beyond being a referee for OVS robotics competitions.
Leo now wants to expand further into the area of STEM, which is one of the reasons he received his training certificate and is now a registered referee.
As a leader within the robotics program, Leo made incredible contributions to the robotics team during his four years and Mr. Westcott is excited to see those contributions continue.
‘It just warms my heart to see him come back and volunteer to be a part of the [inter-league tournament],” Mr. Westcott said. “He’s been a great part of our program.”
But perhaps his greatest contribution, even more than rebuilding an entire robot in a week after the devastating Thomas fire destroyed the robotics lab, was his suggestion to strategize the division of team members into the two teams that OVS had.
“In my junior year, I suggested to reorganize the two teams, one for veteran members (Spudnik) and one for new members (Spudbot), instead of mixing veteran members and new members together into two [equal] teams,” Leo explained. “For example, when the game is released, Spudnik would start designing, building, and programming the robot immediately, while Spudbot would build a training robot to gain familiarity with the robots, before actually building a robot for competition. Spudbot, this way, has a better learning opportunity from the mentors and Spudnik members. If I could go back, I would suggest this idea earlier in the four years.”
Not only did this change allow the Spudbot team members to spend more time honing their abilities and interests in the realm of robotics, it also improved the overall performance of the Spudnik team.
In Leo’s first year, the Spudnik team placed somewhere around 30th of nearly 40 teams within the league. In Leo’s senior year, a year after this change, Spudnik placed 2nd overall in the league.
Although losing Leo was difficult, seeing him go on to pursue these passions at the University of Michigan has been incredibly rewarding to his mentors in the robotics program.
At the University of Michigan, Leo is taking computer science courses relating to robotics, computer vision, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, to further his understanding of the field he is so passionate about.
“Now that I have experienced robotics, I am more eager to take these challenging courses to expand my (computer science) skills,” Leo said.
August 14 — On the day before graduation, eighth-graders ventured to the Sespe Wilderness for their traditional hike from White Rocks to 10-foot Hole. A few days earlier, kindergartners continued an OVS tradition by climbing through the Boney Bean cave and splashing through the waterfall.
At the Upper Campus, the seniors participated in their final trip — an exploration to Big Sur that included a senior solo. Those trips concluded a dynamic year in Outdoor Education. At the Lower Campus, this included eight elementary camping trips, nine middle school base-camping and backpacking adventures, and nearly a dozen weekend excursions, which featured river rafting, kayaking, mountain biking, rock climbing, rappelling, mountaineering, and equestrian trail rides. At the Upper Campus, 19 trips were organized during the year, with high school students heading to the Sierras, Kern River, Escalante in Utah, and more.
As we gear up for our 2019-2020 school year, we remind families to be sure students are properly geared up for Outdoor Education, as well. From our Resources page, here are the equipment lists for each division:
• Elementary Outdoor Education Equipment List
• Middle School Outdoor Education Equipment List
• High School Outdoor Education Equipment List
December 21, 2018
In keeping with the spirit of the holidays, we want to thank our families, alumni, faculty and friends for their support of Ojai Valley School. As we close our 107th year, there is much to celebrate as we reflect on the accomplishments of our students past and present. We are proud to see our young alumni thriving at universities across the world, and our current students embracing our academic and co-curricular offerings.
In the year ahead, we will move forward with visionary plans to further enhance our facilities on both campuses. We will also explore new course offerings, broaden our community outreach and enhance the unique programs that distinguish OVS from other independent schools. We thank you for supporting these efforts to benefit future generations of students.
The school has seen many changes in the past century. Through it all, OVS has remained firmly grounded in the founding principles of educating the whole child while developing integrity, character, and responsibility – and those principles will always remain at the core of an OVS experience.
On behalf of the entire Ojai Valley School community, we wish you a safe and enjoyable holiday season.
Michael J. Hall-Mounsey
President/CEO
Craig Floyd
Head of School, Upper Campus
Gary Gartrell
Head of School, Lower Campus
Senior Lilli Trompke was among a handful of students who applied lessons she learned through the Thomas Fire to her college essays. Photo by Jaclyn Sersland.
By Jaclyn Sersland, Class of 2019
What was one of the most challenging experiences you’ve faced, and how has it shaped who you are today? Seniors across the country face this thought-provoking question when filling out their college applications, but several Ojai Valley School seniors knew perfectly what to talk about: the Thomas Fire.
The Thomas Fire started on December 4 of last year and struck the Upper Campus the following day, impacting the lives of all OVS students and faculty. The fire destroyed two signature buildings — the girls’ dorm and the science and technology center — and damaged various other facilities and structures.
On top of all the challenges junior year brings, the Thomas Fire certainly added to the list. But despite the adversity, OVS seniors took their experiences from the fire and used them to create a topic for their college essays and supplemental questions.
Lilli Trompke wrote about the fire in relation to Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. Being inspired by its metaphorical definition, she used it as the source of her inspiration for her common application essay.
“Literally a crucible is a melting pot, but metaphorically it’s a challenge that is so difficult, so hard, that it melts [people] down to their very core,” Lilli said. “I didn’t think about it that much then, but then I wrote my essay about how only months after, the fire actually became my crucible. It was a pretty big challenge because I lost so much and all my friends and our entire entire community lost so much and it really melted us all down to the small community that we are.”
The Grace Smith Hobson House girls dorm, looking northeast across the OVS campus, was destroyed in the Thomas Fire. Photo by Logan Hall.
Part of the essay required Lilli, a boarding student from Germany, to write about the experience. But she also had to elaborate on how she grew despite the tragedy. “I learned that in times like these, we need leadership, and I realized that I needed to step up,” Lilli said. “I’ve never really been a leader, but I learned that I needed to step out of my comfort zone here.”
At least a half dozen OVS seniors have referenced the fire as part of their college applications. College Counselor Fred Alvarez said those references have ranged from heartfelt stories of items lost to the fire to terrifying re-creations of the hours in which the fire marched toward the Upper Campus and forced students and faculty to flee.
“I wasn’t surprised students used these stories as part of the college application process,” Mr. Alvarez said. “College admissions representatives are always preaching the need for students to be genuine. Well what they got with these essays were genuine, emotional stories that describe loss, but also leadership that emerged in the wake of this devastation.”
Maya Mullins’ essay does exactly that.
Resident girls gather in the temporary dorm complex on campus. Rebuilding plans are underway to replace the Grace Smith Hobson House destroyed in the fire. Photo by Misty Hall.
A boarding student from Northern California, Maya started the essay with a brief summary about the harrowing hours between when the fire started and when students were told to evacuate from Upper Campus to Lower Campus. But she spent the majority of her essay talking about how the fire changed her and she had to live with that new reality when she returned to school five weeks later. Her writing about the fire paid off as she recently got accepted into one of her top schools, American University in Paris.
“I chose to write about the fire because I thought it was a unique experience,” Maya said. “I wanted the essay writers to see my personal growth and make myself stand out.”
Many dormers wrote about the impact the fire had on them when the fire hit OVS, but Sophia Cluff-Thompson had a different story to share. A local Ojai day student, Sophia wrote about the race against the flames to rescue her horses and other horses in the community.
On the day of the fire, Sophia received a call from her trainer at her barn who was desperately seeking volunteers to help evacuate the horses. With the fire trailing down the hills surrounding her barn at rapid speeds, Sophia hurried to write names on all the horse halters, lead the horses into trailers, and assist in cutting the chain link fence to the golf course to free all the other horses.
Thankfully, the fire didn’t make it to the ranch, but Sophia used this story as the basis of her writing.
“I chose to write about this topic because it had a drastic impact on my life and I wanted to share the story,” Sophia said. “This event has furthered my interest in the veterinary field, and I know I want to pursue this as a career.”
Sophia’s biggest passion is animals, and she hopes the essay readers realize how much she worked to save these horses and put herself in potential danger in the process.
“You never really know how difficult a disaster is until you’re actually put into the situation,” Sophia said. “But I hope they take away that we all put our part in and worked really hard, because we all had similar experiences with the fire and we all made sacrifices during it.”
Flowers and plants have reemerged on the hillsides surrounding the Upper Campus following the Thomas Fire. By Misty Hall.
Yes, the fire destroyed, but it was the brush that needed to be burned to give the flowers deep underneath a chance to flourish, and it was the feeling of community that I felt when we met in the winter to rebuild our school, that gave me the urge and ability to learn to handle the pain, to benefit from it by overcoming it, because really, that was all we could do at that moment. I learned to value what was left, my friendships, my family, a place to live, and, above all, a healthy life.
— An excerpt from Lilli Trompke’s college essay
September 30, 2018
A Message from OVS President/CEO Michael Hall-Mounsey:
An oak tree grows to a certain point, and then nothing visibly happens. It appears dormant. But what we can’t see is that the root system is reaching down, pulling in nutrients and establishing a healthy footing before we see its foliage begin.
Right now, Ojai Valley School, like the oak tree that serves as its symbol, is putting down roots and building a solid base in anticipation of new growth that soon will be visible for all to see.
Lucila Arango of the Aramont Foundation was instrumental in bringing about a donation of $1 million to Ojai Valley School, following the devastating Thomas Fire. Above, she and OVS President/CEO Mike Hall-Mounsey discuss the plans to rebuild Upper Campus.
This growth will be most evident at the Upper Campus where in the coming year we will rebuild the academic and residential buildings that were destroyed in the Thomas Fire. We will rebuild better than before, and take the opportunity to simultaneously construct the long-awaited Student Commons, a two-story dining hall, kitchen and library complex that will be second to none.
In the aftermath of the devastating Thomas Fire, we have the rare opportunity to rebuild in a manner that accentuates our identity, our connection to the outdoors, and our sense of community, while also innovating and enhancing our academic, co-curricular and residential programs, thus elevating OVS to a leadership position among independent schools globally.
But opportunities are only realized by taking action – and I’m thrilled to report that we are now on our way thanks to the generous gift of $1 million to our rebuilding campaign by The Aramont Foundation.
Alumna and past parent Lucila Arango (U84), as trustee of the Foundation, stepped forward this summer and secured this lead gift to inspire others to join in our campaign and to ensure that our dormitory, science and technology center, and commons are built together to truly create a new heart and hub of campus life. (Learn about Luci and her support of OVS in an article in our Family Tree magazine. Click here to read it online.)
Los Angeles-based architect Fred Fisher, a current parent, and his architectural team are developing designs for the new Aramont Science and Technology Center, the Grace Hobson Smith House dormitory, and the new Student Commons. Those initial schematic designs received unanimous approval by the OVS Board of Trustees in September, and we are well on our way to breaking ground on this exciting project in the coming year.
For now, I encourage all our alumni, past parents, new parents, students and faculty to join in our campaign to rebuild. Volunteer, make a donation or a multi-year pledge, or learn more about the RESTORE RENEW REBUILD effort by contacting our Development Office at (805) 646-1423 or through the new campaign website.
In the resilient spirit of OVS, the entire school community near and far made a commitment to reopen after the fire and continue the academic program from where it was interrupted. This determination was strongly supported by an immediate outpouring of generous contributions from alumni of every era, as well as parents and friends.
Our oak tree is ready to sprout new branches and foliage thanks to the generosity of our OVS family! We look forward to working together to provide an even better student experience for generations to come!
Alumni Weekend 2017 was an incredible gathering that brought nearly 300 alumni and their guests home for three days of activities and events. Thank you for joining us on campus! Check out our online photo gallery. We hope to see you at next year’s Alumni Weekend, June 8-10, 2018! If you are interested in helping to round up your classmates for next year’s reunion, please contact the Alumni Office to add your name to the reunion committee.
By Natasha Freudmann, Class of 2017
On a rocky plateau overlooking miles and miles of the Pacific Ocean, Ojai Valley School students crouched over hardened soil, shovels in hand. With quiet focus, they overturned clumps of earth, creating new homes for plants native to the Channel Islands chain, just off the Ventura County coastline.
It was a long way to go to till some soil. But this was not your run-of-the-mill gardening project.
The students, members of OVS’ Advanced Placement Environmental Science class, sailed in February to Anacapa Island in the first of what will be a series of excursions to Channel Islands National Park for environmental education and restoration projects. Fifth graders made the trip in March. This week, middle school students will depart for Santa Cruz Island to continue this field work and the senior class will anchor these projects with a trip in late May.
In partnership with the national park, OVS earlier this school year was awarded a $4,000 Hands on the Land grant, part of a national effort to connect students, teachers and volunteers with public lands and waterways. OVS was one of 22 institutions nationwide to receive the grant, which came about through a collaborative process between parents, the park service and the high school and middle school staffs.
Funded by the the National Environmental Education Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency, the grant in coming months will be used by students and teachers on both campuses to access the islands and use them as living laboratories, tackling projects including working on-site in nurseries, removing invasive vegetation, and gathering and compiling plant restoration data.
“This grant rapidly advances our goal to partner with Channel Islands National Park on long-term restoration and research projects,” said AP Environmental Science teacher John Wickenhaeuser, who as the school’s director of technology and sustainability spearheaded the grant-writing effort.
“With this funding nearly 100 students in grades 5 through 12 will travel to the islands this school year, to remove invasive species, plant natives and learn from expert field biologists,” Wickenhaeuser added. “It is an extraordinary opportunity for our students and our school to learn, participate, and make a huge difference on the truly special Channel Islands.”
On the school’s first visit to the islands as part of the grant, students embarked on a mission to learn about Dudleya, a plant native to Anacapa Island, one of the five islands that make up Channel Islands National Park. The plant, like many others native to the island, has been crowded out by invasive ice plant, which was brought to the island in the mid-20th century for landscaping and erosion control.
After hours of education and labor to transplant the Dudleya, more than 100 new plants were in the ground. Despite the hard work, students were enthusiastic about the project – especially with the added benefit of working and learning outdoors.
“It’s awesome to be out of the classroom and having fun out here,” said senior Jack Gentry, who joined eight other Advanced Placement students on the inaugural service project. “I’m super glad I had this opportunity.”
Lower Campus parent Annie Little, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, accompanied the AP class to the island. Little spoke earlier this year as part of the school’s Guest Lecture series about her work restoring sea birds, including the bald eagle, to the Channel Islands, and she was instrumental in connecting OVS to the current service project.
“With the Fish and Wildlife Service we try and encourage kids to come out and get involved with restoration projects,” Little said. “We have a whole program of connecting kids to nature. This is part of that mission and a great opportunity for the OVS kids to get out and do some hands-on work.”
Not only will the grant provide great opportunities for students to learn about the islands and their ecosystems, its objectives dovetail nicely with the AP Environmental Science curriculum and advance the school’s long-standing commitment to hands-on learning.
“I think it’s all about experiential learning,” Little said. “You guys aren’t just sitting in a classroom learning about restoration, you’re actually doing it yourselves. You’ve experienced [restoration] so it provides you with a great learning opportunity. It brings more of the textbook into real life and you get to really experience it.”
Monique Navarro, education coordinator for Channel Islands National Park, couldn’t agree more. Moreover, she thinks the visits could help ignite in some students a passion to pursue environmental education and activism in the future.
“I think [this] can inspire students to think of different opportunities for what to study at university and beyond, and what different job opportunities are out there,” Navarro said. “[It can] also get students to appreciate and to protect these resources, so it’s our responsibility to preserve and protect them.”
The grant funds will be available through the end this school year. Future activities include a fifth-grade trip to Anacapa Island, a middle school backpacking trip to Santa Cruz Island, and a senior trip to Santa Cruz Island.
While school officials ponder future uses, the focus will remain the same.
On the windswept plateau at Anacapa Island late last month, senior Ally Feiss worked with several partners to scoop out the stubborn earth and plug in Dudleya, creating in about an hour a field of light-green succulents, the color of green beans, that had not been there previously.
Afterward, students worked in pairs to lug bulky water jugs from plant to plant, giving each of the new island natives a long drink.
“It was really surprising looking back that we as a group had done so much in such a little amount of time,” Ally said. “Aside from the fact that we are doing island education and restoration, it was nice to see how a little work goes a long way.”
Indeed, on this little island, the OVS students made a big difference – strengthening the habitat for native species and paving the way for future restoration work.
“The purpose of the grant is to provide an opportunity for kids to get experience out in nature and have a positive impact on the environment,” Little said. “This restoration project is important for trying to recover the island and the island habitat, and it provides the OVS kids a great opportunity for real, hands-on restoration.”
Click here to see photos from the 5th grade trip to Anacapa Island in March.
The Class of 2016 is just days from graduation and set to attend colleges around the world in the fall.
After sending out a total of more than 200 applications and receiving roughly 100 acceptances, seniors have made their final decisions, bringing a long, anxiety-filled application process to an end and allowing students finally to relax.
The Class of 2016 will scatter across the globe next year.
Ally Feiss will head to the University of Massachusetts at Lowell near Boston, while Yuhi Kuramoto will return to his native Japan where he will attend Asia Pacific University in Oita. Joe Foulger will attend the University of Washington, Brendan Goldberg is going to Emory University in Atlanta, and Victor Yen will attend Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.
“I’m proud of them,” said College Counselor Judy Oberlander, who has overseen every step of the application process. “I think that all the seniors have taken responsibility and have really worked to make it happen for them.”
Read more in a news story on the student journalism website, On The Hill.
By Natasha Freudmann, Class of 2017
Call it the Rise of the Robots.
Walk into the chemistry lab during any elective period and you’ll find students huddled in groups, jamming to the classics and deeply focused on preparing for a unique and first-ever competition for students at the Upper Campus.
The vibe is cheerful and exciting. But make no mistake, this is serious business.
Since the start of the school year, these students have been preparing to compete in the Greater Los Angeles FIRST Tech Challenge, a high school robotics competition aimed at teaching students the value of hard work, innovation and creativity through the use of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The robotics program at the Upper Campus is spearheaded by math and science teacher Chris Wescott, who provides a kinetic learning experience for these robotics enthusiasts.
“I think that OVS, by creating STEM programs, is meeting a calling that all education is needing and lacking,” Mr. Wescott said.
STEM Education programs are becoming increasingly popular nationwide as schools move to prepare students for the kinds of STEM-based jobs that will be available in the 21st century. OVS has long focused on kinetic learning, and a STEM focus aligns perfectly with the school’s philosophy. STEM projects are very also popular with students and are helping recruit prospective students to OVS.
“In the academic realm, there is a tremendous interest in hands-on science approaches now,” said Tracy Wilson, the school’s director of advancement and admissions. “So this is a potential differentiator for OVS in terms of our ability to be on the cutting edge in terms of what we can offer with a STEM-based curriculum that truly begins in kindergarten and extends through the high school grades.”
At the high school, the robotics squad is divided into two teams — Python and Spudnik. Students on each team have built and programmed robots, and those creations will be put through their paces on Saturday as the OVS teams compete in an alliance format against other high school teams.
“Hopefully what we create here at OVS is something I can take pride in,” Mr. Wescott said. “Something I helped start and create and something that students are excited about and can feel challenged by, but at the same time overcome challenges.”
