Molly attended Oak Grove from 1985 to 1998, when she graduated high school. Explaining her time at Oak Grove Molly says, “The environment is so supportive and nourishing to the individual child, emphasizing personal identity and also building meaningful relationships with peers, teachers, and the environment. The connections I’ve made with my peers and teachers have lasted decades.” After graduating Molly attended UC Santa Cruz where she majored in Community Studies. From there she moved to Los Angeles where she lived for 15 years. She started off in LA as a nanny, then returned to school at Cal State Northridge to earn her Master’s in Physical Therapy, and began working in an outpatient clinic at St. Vincent Hospital.

In 2018, Molly and her family moved back to Ojai, bringing her PT experience to Swanner Physical Therapy. Describing her reasoning Molly says, “I think my husband and I both knew we were going to move back to Ojai some day, as there was family here and a growing community of childhood friends who had also moved back years before us.” With their first daughter, Isla, approaching school age, they knew it was the right time.

“It has been a dream to have Isla go to Oak Grove and a little surreal returning as a parent. Oak Grove was like my second home,” Molly adds. Explaining the Oak Grove curriculum and also her reasons for enrolling her youngest daughter, Ruthie, Molly states, “The opportunities to explore art, the environment, to camp and travel were so enriching and memorable for me, and I wanted to give my children the same experiences. In addition, Oak Grove’s current curriculum offers open discussions, education and forward thinking about gender, sexuality, race, and privilege, topics that are essential for raising conscious and self-reflective individuals.”

This alumni profile was featured in the 2021-22 Annual Report.