Some of my friends’ parents called the Oakdale staff miracle workers. Academic standards are high; but admission requirements are not. This means that an incoming student not performing at their potential has much work to get caught up. Oakdale is proven over and over again that the staff work along side of students to help them catch-up and surpass their grade level. Personally, I was able to graduate from high school a full year early due to the challenges offered by the academics of Oakdale. The school is small enough that anyone with any interest in a sport can nearly be assured a spot on the team. Even the weakest players are given opportunities to participate and grow into leadership positions. While the school’s athletics may not be competitive at the level of the local public schools; they are certainly inclusive, rigorous and fun.

The school is small enough that anyone with any interest in a sport can nearly be assured a spot on the team. Even the weakest players are given opportunities to participate and grow into leadership positions. While the school’s athletics may not be competitive at the level of the local public schools; they are certainly inclusive, rigorous and fun.

Choral music, vocal ensemble, instrumental and contemporary performance opportunities are all encouraged at Oakdale. Drama is studied at several grade levels and performed in chapel or at the campus church by small groups, including puppetry. The senior play is a highlight of the spring. Appalachian crafts are interwoven into the curriculum as appropriate; the annual Honey Festival in Jackson and Wooly-Worm Festival in Beattyville expose students to the artistic heritage of the mountain people. My favorite would have been the guy's quartet.

I was involved in Bible Quizzing. This is a national competition, using the Bible as the source material, testing for knowledge, quick recall and memorization. Both years that I attended Oakdale we were able to go to the national finals; placing third nationally during my junior year. I was in choir and a traveling music group, did some photography and darkroom work and won the county science fair in 1981. Other activities offered included: student council, intramurals, speech competition, puppets, cheerleading, softball, basketball, volleyball, and others I cannot remember. One of the outstanding opportunities offered by Oakdale is the chance to serve in leadership roles. Each class elects their own officers as well as the school-wide student council. With fewer than fifty students many young people are groomed for future leadership positions while serving in offices that they might never obtain in a larger school.

Now there are several dorms on campus; when I attended there were only two: the Boys and the Girls. Significant improvements have been made since I was there in the quality of the rooms and the accessories. Spacious lounges, laundry facilities and kitchen/kitchenette facilities are in each dorm. Being nestled in a rural area the campus is quite safe, but security precautions are taken, nonetheless. Each dorm is headed by a set of dorm parents, supplemented by an assistant that covers some weekends/days off. Since all of the staff and faculty live on campus, it is not unusual to have students in staff homes, or to see faculty in the dorms. In many respects the dorms reflect a large family. My most positive recollections of dorm life were the various guys who were my roommates over the two years I attended. I correspond regularly with many of them; and one particularly has become a life-long friend. We visit each others families a few times a year.

Lunch and supper are served in the Dining Hall daily. Most meals are casual, cafeteria/buffet style; with occasional semi-formal or formal dinners or banquets. The food is above average, comparable with a nice family style restaurant. Staff are requested to eat with the students and most attend all meals. Kitchen/clean-up duty is rotated among the students with staff and/or student leadership supervision. Breakfast is normally prepared in the dormitories. Most fun would have been the dress-up banquets – I learned much about manners, but had a great time doing it!

Oakdale is ten miles from the nearest town (Jackson, county seat, population <10,000) or one hundred miles from the nearest city (Lexington, population 250,000+). Jackson has a downtown center with a mixture of professional offices and smaller retail stores. Several “strip-malls” or shopping centers offer many of the familiar suburban shops and a few restaurants. Beattyville, also about ten miles from campus offers similar opportunities. Having the campus in a rural environment is quite an advantage when compared to other schools. Security problems are non-existent (although prudent precautions are followed). Traffic, beyond an occasional slow tractor, is never an issue. Contraband is significantly minimized due to lack of availability. The neighbors of the campus are small farmers or families living on many acres of land: friendly, rural Kentucky folks; many of whom attended the school when they were children.

Needless to say, most socializing takes place on campus. The students schedule is full of activities. They are never bored due to lack of things to do. In addition to the expected sports activities, because the campus includes several mountains; hiking, supervised rappelling and other outdoor activities are popular recreational outlets. Many social events are as simple as a game of Monopoly around a pot of hot chocolate or an impromptu computer game tournament in the lab. The school maintains a code of behavior that encourages co-ed socialization in groups rather than as couples. “Pairing-off” is not prohibited, but little opportunity is available for one-on-one dating. When I attended it was called simply: “hands-off policy”. I think there is now a new name. A school bus and several vans are available to transport students to concerts, drama, shopping, field trips, hiking, rappelling, swimming, camping, etc. My favorite social experiences would include: serenading my girlfriend in front of sixty people, traveling to other cities in the guy’s quartet, having supper in a favorite teacher’s home and riding home (600 miles) singing at the top of my lungs with six other students in a staff member’s van (and we ran out of gas at 1am).