HEAVY FOOTFALLS, LIGHT SPIRITS

When the Skeeter family first came to tour Orchard House School in search of a school for their daughter Bella, their first impression was of the lightness of the building. Orchard House alumna parent and current board member Lori Skeeter sums up how they experienced this light: “For it to be such an imposing structure on quite the imposing avenue, the inside felt very light. Physical light coming in from the windows, the bright colors, the smiles on the faces as the girls were changing classes. Even the noises over your head in the stairwells heavy footfalls but light spirits!"

Long before joining the Orchard House family, the Skeeters have been active members in school communities, including their help establishing the nonprofit Parent Association Committee to support the work of Bella’s elementary school. When it came time to choose a middle school, Lori says, “We always knew the time would come when she’d transition out of that environment, and we didn’t want the first time she was in a traditional classroom setting to be in high school. Orchard House just felt like it was absolutely the right fit. We don’t just care about test scores, we care about how you are feeling, interacting, relating all of these things matter. Even the math program you can still be successful even if math is not your first language.”

As a member of OHS Class of 2020, Bella had a transition to a public high school that was unique to her grade due to the pandemic. “OHS gave her the foundation that you grow where you ’ re planted, and in this case you ’ re planted in my house!” When the Skeeters were looking at options for high school, Bella indicated that she was ready for a larger environment, and while spending freshman year learning virtually wasn’t what she’d initially had in mind, she’s since been able to spread her wings properly. Now in her junior year at Richmond Community High School, Bella is building upon the foundation set by OHS. Lori reports that one of Bella’s current teachers expressed a desire to know more about OHS because of her sense of self. “He said, ‘All of the OHS students, I see something different in them.’ It was great to hear him say that not just my daughter, but the other students who are OHS alums, seem to have a way of coping with the world and pressures and academics that is discernibly different.”

It’s this kind of difference that motivates Lori to serve in support of schools. “I probably have more time and talent than I have treasure, so I’m always willing to give what I can that’s going to make the school better. So when Orchard House approached me wanting to have the voice of a current parent, I thought that was important. Also as a Black family looking for diversity of perspective and voices in a small school, having a seat at the table as a minority is always important.” Lori is proud of the work Orchard House and the OHS Board have done in the last few years to continue what she calls “merging the reality of life with our education.” This merging is all about keeping up with the actual landscape of what adolescent girls are processing inside and outside of the classroom. This includes the addition of time for students to spend with counselors in a curriculum dedicated to social-emotional development and mental health, but it also includes the expansion of the diversity, equity, and inclusion curriculum and the addition of Orchard House’s Director of Diversity and Assistant Head of School LaMecca Coates. “If we didn’t know we needed it at first if it was something that was a luxury back in the day it certainly became a necessity in the past 2 or 3 years. ”

To Lori, this expansion of DEI work and the emphasis on mental health and self-care are just part of what excites her about the OHS Strategic Plan, which the Board passed in June 2022. She is particularly concerned with the commitment to raising the profile of the school. “I definitely feel like OHS is one of those best-kept secrets that we would like not to be a secret anymore. ” And to Lori, raising the profile calls for an expansion of the promotion of OHS to all of the city and surrounding counties and especially to families who may not automatically assume that an Orchard House education is within reach. “We want to be accessible, we want people to be aware that we can find a home here and continue down that path. I am such a fan and proponent of what I saw it do for Bella that I absolutely want everyone to know and have an opportunity to join.”