By Sydney Sheehan ’14, Staff Writer

I’ve been at Newark Academy since the sixth grade, so you can only imagine my shock at starting in a new school during my junior year! My class of forty-five students is made up of ten boys and thirty-five girls from all over the country, and I would never have been able to meet the great friends I’ve made if not for the Oxbow School. The amazing thing about coming here is not the fact that you get to practice art 24/7 or even the fact that you are in sunny California; the best thing about coming to Oxbow is the people that you meet and how it changes you.

Being at Oxbow is much different than school at Newark Academy. Breakfast starts at 8:15 and morning classes begin at 9:00, but instead of six classes a day for a fifty-five minutes each, we have two classes a day,

which are each two hours and fifty minutes long. It was challenging at first to get used to the fact that you are in one class for this long, but the content of the class makes up for the length. Our assignments are filled with personal essays, self-reflective journaling, and experiments that test our nature and question our values; we learn to make our own opinions on the world and become better versions of ourselves.

The most appealing part of Oxbow is of course the art! With an entire faculty devoted to your artwork and state of the art studios that face the beautiful Napa River, what more could an artist need for inspiration? Our projects consist of in-depth research and personal exploration before we even begin to create art. Our artwork has meaning behind it, imbued with memories, experiences, and emotions.

This experience is something I will never forget, molding me into a better artist and ultimately a better person. Oxbow will help prepare me to become far more independent than I ever thought I could be. The challenging, personal assignments help me to become comfortable sharing my ideas, thoughts, and stories with my peers. The art projects take me to the next level as an artist and enable me to express my point of

view and my ideas in a completely new way. The college-like setting is something to get used to and not being able to come home at the end of a long day has truly been one of the hardest yet most rewarding challenges I’ve ever dealt with. I look forward to spending the rest of my year here at Oxbow as a devoted artist and student. I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity.

If you are interested in attending the Oxbow School one day for a semester program in visual art, please contact Dr. DiBianca.