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Great Things are Happening in the Office of Admission at Holland Hall
The 2012-13 school year at Holland Hall is off to a great start! We have added 153 fantastic new students (81 in the Primary School, 39 in the Middle School, and 33 in the Upper School). Our new students represent a wide array of backgrounds and experiences that are already enriching the educational atmosphere in each of the branches. Another encouraging number is our 96 percent retention rate this year. This percentage reflects a strengthening economic situation in Tulsa and our families’ appreciation for the quality of our teachers, coaches, and programs. Students and families want to be at Holland Hall!
The Admission Team is exactly that. This summer, Ms. Toneille Bent joined the Admission Team as Assistant Director of Admission (focusing on the Primary School); Toneille will move to her beautiful new office in the Primary School in the next few weeks. Brian Thompson is engaged at all levels of our Middle School admission process, and Pam Lieber is our most important team member. Her support of parents and students throughout the admission process is an important factor in our positive growth this year. From our recent ad campaign to our interaction with inquiring parents, the Admission Team is focused on the word “WELCOME.” We want Holland Hall to be a place for everyone and for the Office of Admission to be the first of many welcoming encounters. In addition to working as a team in Admission, we are also working with the Offices of College Counseling and Alumni Relations to share the Holland Hall story with a wide audience. We are hosting four Start2Finish events this year in which Holland Hall families may invite their not-yet-at-Holland Hall friends to informal gatherings to learn more about our diverse and innovative programs. These events provide opportunities for the larger Tulsa community to learn more about who we are. We are also reaching out to cultural organizations, churches, small preschools, our University of Tulsa contacts, and urban professional organizations in order to reach a more diverse array of students within the city. Additionally, we are actively working to make our new students feel welcome. We are hosting pizza parties, eating with Primary School and Middle School students, creating an orientation process for families, and surveying new students and parents in order to learn how we may serve them in an even better way.
As we think about the coming year, we are in conversations about enhancing preschool play days, reaching out to businesses and realtors in the community to spread the “WELCOME,” designing Discovery Days in which visitors may see what our outstanding teachers and students are doing in their classrooms, streamlining the application and testing processes, reviewing our marketing strategies, and looking into opportunities for parents to work with the Office of Admission in a more personal way. We are enthusiastic about our school and are eager to share it with the community.
In September, I had the privilege of attending the ISAS Admission conference in Santa Fe. The conference was especially helpful since I am new to Admissions. I learned more about financial aid, marketing, Open Houses, and collaboration, plus made new friends with Admission officials at our peer institutions who are sharing ideas that we can successfully implement at Holland Hall.
We are currently flooded with inquiries and look forward to another exciting Admission season. Since we believe that everyone affiliated with Holland Hall is on the Admission Team, we welcome ideas and feedback from all of our faculty, staff, and families and encourage you to share our “WELCOME” with your friends and family in the Tulsa area so that we may continue to enhance our wonderful community.
Olivia Martin
Interim Director of Admission and Financial Aid
Let the Adventure Begin!
“Walking takes longer than any other form of locomotion except crawling. Thus, it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed … Walking makes the world much bigger and therefore more interesting. You have time to observe the details.” — Edward Abbey
Words cannot express my gratitude for the opportunity I have been given as the new all-school counselor at Holland Hall. Amidst the various tasks and activities that fill a “day at the office” for me, I am afforded the gift of walking our beautiful 162-acre campus multiple times a day to connect with various students, faculty and parents. Aside from the enjoyment I find in soaking up the sights and sounds during my time walking, it has also provided a rich learning opportunity for me as I strive to live an intentional, balanced life in our pressured, high-paced world.
Our students have an abundance of great opportunities to learn and be stretched. Despite the many positives that come with that, the battle for balance begins at an early age, but I would argue that this battle is well worth the fight.
In my opinion, we were made for wholeness and connection. Although the presenting problems varied with the many clients I’ve worked with over the years, the common denominator has always been related to wholeness and/or connection. It seems undeniable that we live in a landscape that has rich opportunities to live a full life, and yet the world we find ourselves in is one that is saturated with noise and a consistent pressure to speed through our days. With that in mind, the question becomes, "how do we live a healthy, productive life while not neglecting our need for rest and play?". I’ve already seen this question in action during my time with people of all ages here in the Holland Hall community.
One of my great passions in life is doing all that I can to help people live lives of wholeness and healthy connection. As I have already told many students and parents, I hope that members of our community will seek my assistance in this journey without feeling like they have to wait until a crisis or difficult issue is present. We all need each other, and what a joy it is to live in the context of a solid community.
To live well is to struggle well, rest well, and play well. With that in mind, choose this day to truly live versus struggling to simply survive and get by.
Suggested reading:
What Are People For? by Wendell Berry
In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore
Ryan Myers, LPC
All-school Counselor
Reader of the Month: Mr. Richard Hart
Richard Hart's favorite reads:
1. True Grit by Charles Portis
2. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
3. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
4. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
(Each month leading up to the 53rd Book Fair on February 23, a person in the Holland Hall community will be featured along with a list of their favorite books to read.)