Is social media bad for teen health? It doesn’t have to be. That was the key takeaway following a talk with Upper School students by social media expert Bailey Parnell. Parnell is the founder of #SafeSocial and CEO of Skills Camp – a company that offers soft skills training to businesses and educational institutions. She presented students with some very compelling risks of social media addiction and its effects on mental health – especially with young women – but also offered advice on bringing balance to your online self by maintaining balance with your offline self.

Topics: health, wellness, social and emotional learning, success skills, building confidence, growth mindset, family, online, safety, executive functioning, life lessons

It seems that school’s have been teaching the sciences in a certain order dating back to the launching of Sputnik and the cold war period, but Oak Knoll has decided to re-order that sequence in a way that makes more sense for students of today. We sat down with Upper School science teacher Jeff Yuhas to learn the rationale behind this decision. Mr. Yuhas also explains the benefits of teaching science in an all-girls school.

Topics: teaching, education, all-girls, STEM, science, building confidence, academics, podcast

"No matter what field you're in–whether you're a scientist, a philosopher, or a linguist–whoever tells the best story is going to win. When I'm competing with all the other people, if I can make my case more clearly, and more persuasively, and actually more entertaining than anybody else, then I'm going to win that argument," says Lisa Levchuck, Upper School English Teacher at Oak Knoll.  She is extolling the importance of writing skills and a skilled writer's power to persuade. 

In this episode of The Happy Kids Project we learn about The Writing Center at Oak Knoll–a truly distinctive peer to peer service in the Upper School. Oak Knoll's Writing Center provides a unique opportunity for middle and high school students to take on leadership roles while supporting their peers. Hear how the Writing Center increases student confidence, leadership skills, and academic excellence in a safe and supportive space.

Topics: education, Summit NJ, building confidence, growth mindset, academics, podcast, leadership, writing skills

There are a variety of strategies a single-sex school can employ to capitalize on an all-girls environment and provide an array of opportunities for students to grow in confidence and hone their leadership skills. Running for office on a student-council may seem an obvious choice, but not all students have that comfort level. Oak Knoll deploys the following strategies to ensure that all students can explore leadership (whether with a lower case “l” or an upper case “L”) throughout their Middle and Upper School years.

Topics: education, all-girls, high school, independent catholic school summit nj, middle school, success skills, building confidence, leadership

October 11, 2022, marks the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the International Day of the Girl (IDG). The United Nations General Assembly declared IDG as a day dedicated to recognizing and highlighting the rights and challenges of girls around the world. The theme for this year is “Our time is now - our rights, our future.”

Topics: education, all-girls, building confidence

I have been playing softball my whole life and it’s the only sport that I have stuck with while trying out new sports (trust me, I’ve tried a LOT of sports). I’m still not sure what drew me to softball. I don’t know if it was the high intelligence of the game, the people I played with, or the excessive amounts of gatorade that I drank during each game. Over time, I learned to balance softball’s intensity, highs and lows, and pressure. It is through those aspects where I learned lessons that have not just applied to sports, but to all areas of my life.

Topics: athletics, building confidence, life lessons

When you hear the name Taylor Swift, what comes to mind? Pop music, blond hair, little miss perfect? Or, if you’re like me, you think all of those things but with a little more country twang. Wait, it isn’t 2006 anymore and I am sad.

Topics: all-girls, students, building confidence

The year 2019 brought us so many blog topics — from the disturbing Momo Challenge that ended up being a hoax to the College Admissions Scandal and so much more. The blog team at Oak Knoll looked back at the top posts that resonated with our loyal readers to bring you this roundup of the top 10 blog posts of 2019.

Topics: technology, admissions, parenting, middle school, health, college counseling, building confidence, fundraising

We recently caught up with Megan Murphy, the Executive Director of the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools after she visited the Oak Knoll School campus earlier this fall. Here, she talks about issues facing girls’ schools, her hope for empowering girls’ voices and girls' school misconceptions.

Topics: education, all-girls, high school, students, independent catholic school summit nj, private school, middle school, building confidence

One of the most exhilarating and unifying moments of the 20th century was the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. During several hot July days in 1969, people all over the world were glued to a television or radio anxiously following the astronauts’ progress to outer space and awaiting Commander Neil Armstrong’s first words as he stepped onto the moon. Willing to put aside global tensions for a bit, we became citizens of the world as we watched Armstrong and fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin, gleeful and childlike, bouncing and driving along the dusty and hilly and mysterious lunar surface.

Topics: back-to-school, wellness, building confidence, first day of school