Welcome to the flock: Ovation Elementary School opens

From their Horizon West home, 5-year-old Quinn Daniel and her mother, Katie Daniel, have seen one of Orange County Public Schools’ newest elementary schools be built from the ground up.

Across the street, they’ve seen the land be cleared and Ovation Elementary School, the school Quinn will call home for the next six years, become a reality.

When Quinn Daniel walked throughout the school and was able to see her kindergarten classroom during Ovation Elementary’s sneak peek Wednesday, Aug. 5, she thought it was the best day ever. 

Finally, the wait was over.

After months of watching construction, Quinn was able to be in her school, amplifying the anticipation for the first day of school Tuesday, Aug. 11.

For Katie Daniel, the first day of school was a weight off her shoulders.

“It’s been a year of her waiting and watching and planning,” she said. “For me, knowing this day was going to come, literally from watching them first break ground on it, I’m just watching my future get built. … She’s excited. Already, every kid she sees is her best friend.”

The school year started with excitement and hope for not only the school year ahead but for the decades of impact the school will make on families and the community in the future.

Photo by Liz Ramos

Start of something new

For both Principal Patty Harrelson and kindergarten teacher Jaime Pressman, Ovation marks their first time opening a new school. 

“We’ve worked so hard and so long it feels like without anyone else seeing the beautiful space we’re going to be occupying, so to have the doors open to the community and to meet our new families and kids was just a dream,” Harrelson said. 

Opening a new school has been a rewarding experience for Harrelson. She has engaged the community and staff in crafting the mission and culture of the school while building a “team that I know will work together as a family” and be a part of not only the Ovation community but also the Horizon West community. 

Pressman, along with some other colleagues, came from Water Spring Elementary School. Ovation was constructed to relieve overcrowding at Water Spring and Panther Lake elementary schools. She also will be teaching alongside some former colleagues from Summerlake Elementary. 

“I’m excited to see some familiar faces and some new faces,” Pressman said. “They’re nervous, I’m nervous. But we’re doing it together, and I love to have some teammates with me. … Now we’re building a new school and a new team. Kindergarten here is going to be the dream team, so we’re really excited for this new year.”

Being a founding family, Katie Daniel and her family will have a front-row seat to watch the future of the school unfold, she said. 

“It’s nice to be, especially in kindergarten, knowing that I’m here from the beginning and on my way through being a part of seeing how the school can actually grow and find its own unique personality is exciting,” she said.

As a kindergarten teacher who has switched schools before, Pressman said being on staff of a new school means she hopefully will be able to stay with the school to see her kindergartners become fifth-graders. She looks forward to seeing their academic and social growth. 

Juliana Souza, like many kindergarten parents, is nervous but overjoyed to have her son, Noah Reis, begin his school career. She’s thrilled with the new campus and adored Pressman’s classroom, which has a Marvel theme. 

But she also held back tears as she watched her little boy take his seat at the table and dive into the folder, already interested in all he will learn in his first year of his K-12 education. She can’t wait to see the friends and memories he makes and how much he learns. 

For Sara Klostermann and her fourth-grader Raegan Klostermann, the two are thrilled to have stability. The family moved from Illinois two years ago and were rezoned from Water Spring Elementary to Ovation, making this Raegan’s third school in three years. 

Sara Klostermann said everyone on staff has been nothing but positive about the new school, making families more elated and eager to join the school community. 

Although she will miss her friends who will remain at Water Spring, Raegan’s looking forward to making new friends. 

“I have butterflies,” Raegan said with a smile. 

Photo by Liz Ramos

Engaging the community

A goal of Harrelson’s has been to encourage involvement from the school community and the community at-large. She wants to build partnerships, whether it’s with the “unreal” Parent-Teacher Organization, the residents of the 55-plus Del Webb Oasis community or the businesses at Flamingo Crossings Town Center. 

She’s been blown away by the community support before the school even officially opened its doors Tuesday, Aug. 11. 

“It really takes a village; you really do need that wraparound feel of community for a successful school,” Harrelson said. “Not only do we want partners to support us and sponsor us, we want to give back and we want to have our kids go and do different things in the community.”

Before the school opened, families received constant communication from school leadership, providing updates on construction and who was hired as well as asking for feedback on aspects of the school such as the mascot and more. 

Katie Daniel said the constant communication was comforting, especially because she was sending her daughter to school for the first time.

“I like the fact we’re starting the culture from scratch,” Katie Daniel said. “What I read is that it’s a lot of teachers that have experience in other areas, all coming together to start something new, which I think means there is a lot of potential and there’s a lot of freedom to make things work the way that you want it to work and not necessarily be pigeonholed into what’s already been developed in the culture that’s already been there.” 

The community has been engaged in choosing various aspects of the school, such as a flamingo as the mascot. At first, Harrelson questioned the choice of the flamingo, but she said the “community has run with the flamingo,” embracing all the opportunities to incorporate it into the school. One teacher made her classroom theme flamingos. Various posters and signs around the school say, “Welcome to the flock.” The school even had a flamingo mascot from Westgate Resorts at Meet Your Teacher Thursday, Aug. 6, to interact with families. 

Above all, Harrelson wants Ovation Elementary School to be a high-performing school of excellence where the children constantly are learning and growing. The school’s motto is, “Ovation nation, where excellence is our expectation.” She also wants to provide enriching after-school clubs and extracurriculars. 

Sara Klostermann was grateful for the opportunity to walk the school during the sneak peek before the chaos of Meet Your Teacher, where all the families rushed the school and all the rooms inside eager to bring in their school supplies and meet the staff. 

She was thrilled to see all the windows throughout the school to allow natural light into the classrooms. She also was pleased with the layout of the school as the U-shape and single point of entry makes the building more secure.

Maria Luzardo was delighted to see the outdoor art space as she and her daughter, Miranda Gutierrez, a kindergartner, both have a passion for art. She also appreciated the media center, shocked by the size.

The start of the school year brings hope for the future as students adjust to their new educational facility.

“It’s home, peaceful,” Luzardo said. “I’m looking forward to (Miranda) growing, learning a lot and basically feeling like her home for the next five years. It’s perfect.”