CONTENTS
OCTOBER 2019
Pumpkin Carving 101 Pg. 16
DEPARTMENTS 22
8 42
50 ESSAY
Writer Michelle Ardillo shares how to write a
winning private school application essay that will
impress the admissions committee.

BITTY & BEAU’S
A new Annapolis coff ee shop brews opportunity
for people with disabilities.

TEEN JOB
For parents of teens with autism, there are many
ways to help your child succeed in the job mar-
ket. TECH CLASSROOM
Take a look inside a typical local school class-
room to see how much technology is there.

STAYCATION Have a family fun mini-vacation this fall right
here in the District.

READERS’ RESPONSES
YOUR We welcome your feedback — on specific articles,
overall themes and anything else related to editorial
content. Enter your comments on the Feedback tab
of our website: info@washingtonfamily.com.

Please note we reserve the right to edit or refrain
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4 Washington FAMILY
OCTOBER 2019
18 20
46 48
52 54
FAMILY CALENDAR
FAMILY BLOG
Getting crafty on a budget
BOOKMARKED Not-so-spooky Halloween books for kids
SCHOOL NOTES
Homework help for students with ADHD
HEALTHY FAMILY
Food allergy-friendly Halloween
GOOD EATS
Tailgate-inspired recipes
LAST WORD
Caring for aging parents
GUIDES 26
SPECIALIZED LEARNING
32 PRIVATE SCHOOLS
44 MONTESSORI SCHOOLS
COVER PHOTO PROVIDED
30 FEEDBACK
Oakcrest School
FEATURES 28
WE WANT
ON THE COVER



— ADVERTORIAL —
Why Mentoring
Matters Yoda and Luke
Skywalker. Dumbledore
and Harry Potter.

Socrates and Plato. We’re
all familiar with famous
mentors and their
protégés, both real and
fictional. But what does
mentoring look like to
an everyday teenager?
Mentoring at Oakcrest is an opportunity
for each student to converse about her life
with someone she trusts — from strug-
gles to personal goals to friendships and
everything in between. It’s a way for her to
reflect on her own growth with the guid-
ance of someone who has a few more years
and a little more wisdom under her belt.

We believe this mentoring relation-
ship is crucial to helping middle and
high school girls learn about them-
selves, grow in confidence and
strive for virtue. Because of this,
mentoring forms the corner-
stone of an Oakcrest education.

During monthly one-on-one
meetings, the Oakcrest student
and her mentor discuss what’s happen-
ing in her life and ways she can grow and
improve. Many schools offer group
advising, but our mentoring program is
unique because it focuses on an individ-
ual, highly personalized experience with
each student.

Our mentoring program rests on two
core principles. First, we want to help
our students grow in self-knowledge and
encourage them to embrace both their
strengths and struggles. The best way they
can do this is by trying every day, patient-
ly and persistently, to grow virtue. By con-
stantly working on themselves, they are
equipped to serve others and make the
world around them a better place.

Second, we believe that all of us —
young or old — need figures in our lives
to keep us accountable and guide us as
we work towards our full potential. Kate
Hadley, director of mentoring, explains
that mentoring helps with “learning that
you will always need people in your life
to mentor you, in every different facet
of your life. And to not be afraid to go
for help. Even as you grow into an adult,
you have mentors who help you finan-
cially, you have mentors who help you
spiritually, you have mentors who help
you learn how to parent. This is a concept
that’s an underlying principle of our men-
toring program.”
At Oakcrest, 85 percent of female facul-
ty and staff serve as mentors. In the words
of teacher and mentor Elizabeth Black,
“The mentor is a woman who accompanies
the student as she matures into a young
woman, listening, giving advice as
needed and, in general, being
another adult who has a fresh per-
spective for the student.”
Deep trust and respect form
the heart of each student-men-
tor relationship. Students appre-
ciate that mentors not only give
advice and insight, but also take the time
to thoughtfully listen to what they have
to say. Student Elizabeth Wells (‘19)
notes, “My favorite thing about my men-
tor is that she treats me as an adult. Of
course, there still exists the line that sep-
arates a teacher from a student, but when
I talk to her, she speaks to me as an adult
and recognizes that my problems require
adult solutions.”
Oakcrest teacher and mentor Monica
Pompei explains, “A mentor is not a coun-
selor or a psychologist, but rather one
who listens to the mentee’s concerns and
coaches the mentee to reflect and ask her-
self questions that help her know herself
better. She helps encourage truthfulness
about oneself without judging the men-
tee.” Many faculty and staff also support
their mentees outside of official mentor-
ing sessions — they’ll stop by a student’s
sports game, attend a ballet she’s dancing
in, or simply pause and chat with her in
the hallway between classes.

Mentors are crucial not just for a young
woman’s character formation, but also
her career aspirations. Writing in Fortune
magazine, business leader Erin Ganju dis-
cusses how she wishes she’d had a female
mentor at the beginning of her profes-
sional life. All too often, she notes, these
types of mentors are lacking, especially
in fields traditionally dominated by men.

She adds, “That’s why it is essential for
female leaders to offer guidance to prom-
ising young women and girls on paths that
traditionally have been closed to them.

They can act as role models and encour-
age their mentees to take the next step, to
reach for higher goals, and push them to
lean in.” Oakcrest mentors strive to help
our girls discover and fearlessly pursue
their ambitions.

As in everything else that we do, parent
partnership plays an important part in men-
toring. The mentor serves as an essential
link between parents and school. Students
are encouraged to discuss with their parents
the goals that they have developed with their
mentor. Parents and mentors are in contact
throughout the year and parents can reach
out to their daughter’s mentor at any time.

One Oakcrest parent says, “My husband and
I see mentoring as one of the great benefits
of an Oakcrest education … Our daughters’
mentors have helped them recognize the
areas in which they need to grow, but also
celebrated the wonderful things that are
going on in their lives. We’ve all heard the
saying that ‘it takes a village’ and my hus-
band and I really feel that Oakcrest and the
mentors, in particular, are a crucial part of
that ‘village.’”
Mentors love the chance they get to
have a personal relationship with each of
their mentees. They care about not only
the girl’s academic growth, but also her
social, physical, character and spiritual
development — at Oakcrest, she is truly
known and valued as a whole person. ■
Erin Ganju, “What Star Wars Can
Teach You About the Importance of
Mentorship,” Fortune, June 17, 2015,
http://fortune.com/2015/06/17/ WashingtonFAMILY.com
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