Daily Kennebec journal., 1925-09-18
Oak Grove Begins
Initial Year as Girls
Fitting School

Oak Grove opened on Tuesday,
September Is, as the new school for
girls under most auspicious condi-
tions, and the prospects are excellent
for a great future. With a plant and
equipment upon which money has
| been spent unstintedly and wisely for
three months, with faculty of high
ly trained and experienced teachers
chosen with keen discernment, and
| with a choice group of nearly fifty
girls who have been enrolled from q
much larger list of applicants, Oak
Grove has opened as a genuinely Sc
lect school for girls.
Tuesday was devoted entirely to
receiving the students and the halls
swarmed with merry girls, dignified
parents, busy teachers and men hur-
rying heavy trunks to girls who were
eager to unpack and settle their
rooms. The first possessions to be
! unpacked were invariably ukeleles
banjos or mandolins and there
was a delightful medley of new and
old tunes that had a decided touch
of a typical girls boarding school,
By evening many of the rooms were
well settled, but some trunks had
failed to arrive and there was some
jolly improvising to provide accom-
modations for the first night.
Wednesday was devoted entirely to
registration and individual confer
ences with each teacher. Since Oak
Grove is strictly a college prepara-
tory school, many of the new girls as
well as old ones are seeking intens-
i've preparation for the College En-
trance Board Examinations and a
careful study Is made of the course
for each girl. Each class met for
| fifteen minutes for assignment OF les
sons on Wednesday afternoon, and
all classes began on schedule with
prepared lessons on Thursday morn
| ing.
Principal Owen has great conf
| dence in the strength of his faculty.
| There are seven resident teachers IN
the dormitory. Four of these studied
| at Harvard the past summer. There
is no teacher on the faculty who has
not had more than two years of
| highly successful experience. Prin-
cipal and Mrs. Owen are entering
upon their eighth year at Oak Grove.
| DIR. Schneider and Miss Meader are
beginning their third years at Oak
Grove as heads, respectively, of the
Science and Modern Language de-
partments. DR.. Schneider did grad
uate work this summer at Harvard
while Miss Meader has been abroad
studying at the Sorbonne in Paris
where she won considerable distinc-
ton. Miss Norcross, the new Eng
lish teacher is a graduate of NJ,
Holyoke in the class of 1913 and has
had fine record for work in such
well-known schools as Flatbush
Miss Norcross has also had training
as leader of girls at the National
Y. w. G. A, and has done graduate
work in English. Miss Smith, the
new Latin teacher, who is graduate
of Mt. Holyoke in the class of 1921,
has taught Latin at Northfield Semi
nary for the past three years where
she was at the head of one of the
dormitories. Miss Smith has had
special training in music and will be
strong addition along this line.
Miss McCurdy who is the new math-
ematlcs teacher and physical direc-
tor has both her bachelor and mas
ters degrees from Dalhousie Unit
Vers1ty and has served there as in
Stfuctor for two years. In addition
to the seven resident teachers Oak
Grove also has graduate nurse who
is unusually we'll qualified for her
position. Miss Dayton is a graduate
or Clifton Springs where she dissin-
gulShed herself as a student. Miss
Dayton, in addition to some private
and hospital nursing has spent two
years overseas and one year at Com
ell, and comes to Oak Grove from two
years as nurse at Wellesley College.
The new school pastor is Rev. John
j. Martin, Phi. D., d. D., of Bangor
Theological Seminary. DIR. Martin
was formerly pastor of a large
church in Chicago, and during the
past summer has preached regularly
at Seal Harbor in the church known
as that of John d. Rockefeller Jr.
The dormitory family represents n
WIDE field and is a most interesting
group. The new girls come from as
lar west as Dayton, Ohio: as far
south as Philadelphia; as far NORTH
as Madawaska; as far east as Calais.
ana even from an island on the
Maine Coast. The fact that every
oormltory girl in good standing at
oak Grove last June has enrolled for
the coming year is a strong evidence
or the loyalty of the students as well
as the esteem of their parents for the
school. The new freedom and ad-
vantages now that everything at Oak
Grove is wholly for girls is warmly
appreciated by everyone and the old
girls in particular are enthusiastic
for the new regime as school for
girls