It takes a village to make a village.
And so, in the three days before the start of the second semester, a wave of students, teachers, alums, and parents turned out by the hundreds to construct a village on the upper sports field to replace classrooms and the girls’ dorm, which were destroyed in the Thomas Fire.
Ten, tea green, portable classrooms and dormitories, varying in size, filled up the field, once used for volleyball games, housing more than thirty girls.
The grass that once covered the field is now on its way to being altered, creating an environmentally friendly space for the dormers, with garden boxes housing blooming, multicolored flowers, and wooden pathways between the classrooms and the dormitories.
Strings of lights illuminate the patios filled with picnic tables and friends of all ages laughing the nights away, and small metal numbers are placed on the sides of the door ways, creating a small town.
“It reminds me of an old-fashioned neighborhood a bit, not exactly sure why. It is also very quiet, in a good way, with crickets chirping and frog calls from the creek,” said English teacher Brittany Whipple, who also serves a dorm parent and lost her own home in the fire. “I am looking forward to the improvements that will make it even more like home for the girls.”
Though the dormitories are still on their way to being finished, they have provided a comfortable and spacious place for the girls to return to, with more furniture and a modern twist added to the rooms, while still holding onto the roots of OVS, Ms. Whipple adds.
Not knowing what to expect when they returned, happy smiles were plastered on the faces of the girls as they walked onto campus, Sunday, January 7, seeing their new home.
“I was really impressed because the faculty created it out of nothing in less than a month, and it’s really incredible how much they got done in such little time,” said junior Lilli Trompke. “It’s an actual village with houses, pretty rooms, lights outside, and patio furniture and it looks way more like a home than I expected it to.”
These changes to the campus began at full force as soon as the fire had passed. Racing against time to formulate a game plan, Head of School Craig Floyd quickly transformed the small field into comfortable, new dorms for the girls.
The task wasn’t easy. With only three weeks to make everything happen, Mr. Floyd had to contact government officials to get the permits to bring the Village buildings to the Upper Campus, and that was just the beginning of the long process.
One challenge was finding the appropriate buildings to fit OVS. Originally, the girls were going to reside in large buildings, similar to the dorms found at summer camps with several girls sharing one room. However, when Mr. Floyd went down to the building company in Riverside, he was lucky enough to find the seven buildings on consignment which are currently the new dorms.
Once the portable units were bought, he contacted Fred Fisher, an architect who was working on another OVS project, to design the layout for the new dorm so it’d be a workable living space.
“Our goal was to try to make things for the girls as normal as possible,” Mr. Floyd said, “to try to hide the fire as much as possible.”
This wouldn’t have been possible without the many volunteers who came on January 5 and 6. Nearly 250 volunteers came on both days to help paint the dorm walls, move furniture, make beds, build garden beds, and set up temporary wood flooring around The Village.
The Grace Hobson Smith House wasn’t just a place for girls to sleep, it had become a second home. It was a place where girls baked cookies in the lounge at night, had dance parties in their friends’ rooms, or stayed up late hours talking to their roommates.
It was hard to leave the girls’ dorms behind in the ashes, but the second the girls stepped back onto the campus and saw the new Village, hope and happiness returned. The girls’ dorm community was there to support each other.
“I think the girls’ dorm community is stronger than ever, I think everyone has come together and become closer,” said new student Kelly MacConnell. “The girls that stayed are all amazing and have been helping out all the girls.”
The Village has come a long way since mid-December, as Mr. Floyd wasn’t even sure the girls would have somewhere to live upon their return.
Now, the biology students have a proper lab, the computer design students have their computers back, and the girls have a new place to call home.
“I’m proud as hell of what we’ve done,” said Mr. Floyd, noting the pride he feels at the number of people who played a part in getting the girls back on campus. “To have that kind of support to make the community whole again was really special. I couldn’t be happier.”