DARIEN GRADUATE HAS PLETHORA OF INTERESTS

In her genuine, matter-of-fact way, Darien teen Alyssa Spencer responds to a question about her interests.

“That’s a problem,” she says while smiling.  “I have so many!”

Spencer graduates June 7 from Oakwood Friends School, since ninth grade part of a senior class now of 26 students.  Oakwood Friends, a boarding and day school in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., lies in the heart of the historic and scenic Hudson River Valley.

Spencer likes the theater, and during her four years there has been in all three productions done annually at Oakwood Friends, including The Laramie Project, Cabaret and I Hate Hamlet.

She speaks expertly about all things Disney.

She identifies a tree a hundred feet away viewed through driving rain and a window made translucent with the condensation of a warm day.

She can also identify virtually any breed of dog, and is herself a dog owner.

And, she is a photographer, favoring candids.

The seeming disparate interests find an impressive home in Spencer’s dream job:

“I have this wild idea to become a museum curator working with living artists,” she says.  She explains that she can come to understand the mind of living artists, but “with dead artists, how do your really know?”

As for her experiences at Oakwood Friends, she says, “I’ve really grown up since ninth grade—I’ve come out from my shell.”

Spencer credits the school’s “accepting community” where the fact that “teachers and students are on a first name basis helped me to feel equal.  I’ve become more independent—I’m better prepared for college because I’ve lived on my own as a boarding student.”

She concludes, “it’s just a really a nice place.  The atmosphere is great.”

This summer Spencer will work as a counselor at a Jewish summer camp in Great Barrington, Mass. where she spent at least ten years as a camper.

Come the fall she will study liberal arts at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.  She thinks that liberal arts and the small size of Clark will suit her well:  “There’s just so much stuff I like,” she reiterates.

As for the future, Spencer says, “I’m embarked on an adventure not knowing exactly where I am going—but I care how I get there.”

Oakwood Friends School, founded in 1796, is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory day and boarding school serving grades 6-12. Guided by Quaker values, Oakwood Friends educates and strengthens young people for lives of conscience, compassion and accomplishment.  It fosters a diverse community of students and staff in an atmosphere of mutual respect and enrichment, sensitive to the world and its needs.