May 29, 2026
Owls in a Year’s Work
August
The 2025–26 school year began with Oakwood’s annual All School Assembly, bringing together students, faculty, and staff from both campuses for a joyful celebration.
Oakwood’s Hydrogen Fuel Cell Racing Team captured 1st place in the Hybrid Race at the H2GP World Finals in Chemnitz, Germany, and now looks ahead to defending its title this summer in Switzerland.
September
The Oakwood High School Orchestra traveled to Kemper Campbell Ranch in Victorville for the Music Department’s annual “Bond in Nature and Music” trip, strengthening both musical collaboration and community connection.
October
Oakwood Middle School Boys Flag Football won the championship at the new Fields at NoHo Park.
Oakwood teacher Kari Latta was honored with the University of Chicago Outstanding Educator Award, an honor nominated by newly admitted UChicago students who recognize educators who have deeply impacted their lives.
The Oakwood Community Picnic at Hirsch Ranch brought families together for a day of student performances, crafts, games, sports, food, and celebration.
The elementary campus celebrated Halloween with its annual costume parade and festive sing-along, bringing students and families together for a spirited day of performances and school-wide celebration.
November
Oakwood High School presented The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, a powerful production exploring memory, justice, and social change through documentary-style storytelling.
Oakwood’s Debate Program, now in its 17th year, hosted the first middle school debate tournament of the 2025–26 season, placing 2nd overall out of seven schools. Sylvia ’30 earned 1st place speaker, while Oakwood students secured 10 of the top 20 speaker spots.
Oakwood’s AIDS Walk team was featured on ABC7 News for their outstanding participation and impact in the 2025 AIDS Walk.
As part of its Voices Envisioned series, Oakwood hosted a special screening of an episode of Social Studies, a character-driven documentary series exploring the lives of the first generation raised on social media. The screening was followed by a moderated conversation with Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker, photographer, producer, and series director Lauren Greenfield, alongside participants from the series.
Oakwood Girls Tennis captured the CIF-SS Division 7 Championship with a 12–6 victory over Laguna Hills High School, earning the first tennis title in Oakwood history.
Students in Oakwood’s Making Music in the 21st Century Independent Study welcomed a professional string quartet to perform original student compositions and arrangements created by Roya ’28 and Kam ’26.
December
Oakwood student-athletes celebrated a major milestone as they officially signed to continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level. Trevor ‘26 (Wash U St. Louis for baseball), Sofia ‘26 (Tufts for Volleyball), and Jake ‘26 (Emory for baseball).
In early December, the Oakwood community gathered at Harvard-Westlake School to cheer on our 6th-grade flag football teams during the inaugural Thursday Night Lights. Oakwood families, students, and supporters filled the stands in a shared celebration of school spirit and community pride.
Oakwood’s Voices Envisioned series welcomed the filmmakers behind Just Sing for a special screening and conversation exploring identity, belonging, music, and storytelling. Members of USC’s SoCal VoCals also performed during the event.
Oakwood STEAM competed in the 2025 Invention Challenge at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For this year’s challenge, dubbed the “Bucket Brigade Contest,” teams needed to create devices capable of moving about 2 gallons (8 liters) of water from a holding reservoir into a bucket about 16 feet (5 meters) away in 60 seconds.
January
Oakwood launched its first MLK Day Morning of Service, bringing together students, parents, faculty, and staff across Los Angeles to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy through community care and volunteer work. Families partnered with Big Sunday and Northeast Trees on service projects across the city, while at the elementary campus, students assembled food kits in support of vulnerable members of the North Hollywood community in collaboration with Noho Home Alliance.
Oakwood’s Varsity Girls Volleyball team completed an undefeated league season.
Oakwood School’s Director of Educational Innovation and Technology Services, Stacie Muñoz, was featured in The Hollywood Reporter for her insights on AI and education.
The Oakwood community gathered for Spirit Night at the Secondary Campus—a high-energy evening of games, dance, food, fun challenges, and Owl pride as both the Girls and Boys Varsity Basketball teams earned victories over Pilibos.
February
Oakwood students and faculty hosted the Gender Justice Summit, a landmark, student-driven event centered on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal # 5: achieving gender equality. This incredible public summit featured speakers from across disciplines and across the globe.
The Middle School debate team was invited to the Golden Desert TOC Invitational. Teddy ’26 and Oliver ’27 advanced to the quarterfinals and earned bids to compete at the Tournament of Champions at the University of Kentucky in Lexington this April.
The Oakwood Middle and High School Hip Hop teams made their season debut at their first competition of the year at Street Dance USA.
The winter performing arts season also included the High School production of Alice by Heart.
March
In March, our Immersion program featured two-week intensive courses for students, ranging from “Baja Biodiversity” and “Hip-Hop & Storytelling”, to “Inside the LA 2028 Games”, and “The Pad Project at the University of Oxford,” co-led by Cheyney Ryan ’59, a member of Oakwood’s founding families.
Students across both campuses participated in experiential learning trips, including 4th Grade’s visit to Sacramento and 8th Grade’s American Studies Close Up Immersion in Washington, D.C., where students connected classroom learning to real-world civic experiences, including meetings with Senator Adam Schiff and Senator Alex Padilla.
Oakwood’s Voices Envisioned series celebrated Women’s History Month with a conversation uplifting the voices and stories of Black women storytellers, artists, and visionaries. From personal narratives to collective memory, the conversation reminded us of the power of storytelling as connection, resistance, and joy.
Oakwood’s first graders took the stage for the annual Earth Gallery Assembly, bringing the story of our planet to life, from the Big Bang to early humans.
April
Oakwood celebrated Earth Day across both campuses through sustainability initiatives and community engagement.
At the Secondary Campus, Oakwood Against Waste harvested compost from its first compost bin and restarted the composting cycle as part of its ongoing environmental efforts.
Oakwood’s ECO Champions launched the school’s first-ever Earth Day Bingo Challenge, encouraging students, families, and faculty to practice sustainable habits through everyday actions.
Bookwood, Oakwood’s K–12 annual celebration of all things books and storytelling, took place at the elementary campus. It was a fantastic afternoon of book readings, food, story-inspired crafts and activities, and special guest authors.
We also saw our elementary Basketball and Volleyball teams make it into the playoffs, and we’re proud to share that 96% of elementary students participated in at least one school sports team, reflecting an incredible culture of involvement and school spirit.
Oakwood’s high school baseball team earned feature coverage in the Los Angeles Times for their standout 2026 season, highlighted by a dominant 14–0 start and their exceptional performance on the field.
6th Grade took a special trip to San Diego to celebrate community, friendship, and fun!
May
Oakwood Middle School’s production of Matilda, directed by Stacy Rock and designed by Ethan Geisness, showcased exceptional student performances, choreography, design, and storytelling.
The Secondary Campus Arts Festival celebrated the creativity and collaboration of the Oakwood community through student exhibitions, performances, interactive activities, and the unforgettable Big Show.
Oakwood’s production of Alice By Heart received two Jerry Herman Award nominations, including Best Actress for Opal ’27 and Best Lighting Design for the Oakwood Performing Arts Lighting Design team.
Oakwood’s student-athletes, Deuce ’26 and Sam ’26, celebrated an exciting milestone as they officially signed as college athletes! Deuce ’26 will head to Oakland University to play basketball, and Sam ’26 will play soccer at Wesleyan University.
The high school baseball team wrapped up an outstanding season with an impressive 21–2 overall record and went undefeated in Liberty League play.
A total of 101 students in grades 3–6 participated in the Spring Instrumental Concert, performing across 16 separate instrumental ensembles.
The Oakwood High School Orchestra performed a moving Spring Concert featuring works that showcased students’ musical talent and collaboration.
The community came together and partied with a purpose at our annual special event, Oakwood Live, for a night of laughter, dance, and to benefit financial assistance.
The Grade 4–6 rock and funk bands performed their second gig of the year, bringing energy and excitement to a lively rock ’n’ roll showcase.
The elementary campus vocal program has continued to grow, with showcases held in both the winter and spring. This spring, students came together for a showcase and potluck featuring the K–2, 3–4, and 5–6 Junior Choraliers groups, as well as several student solo performances.
June
We made it! Coming up next: Step-Up, 6th Grade Graduation, and High School Graduation. Wishing everyone a restful, joyful summer ahead!