Plans for Founder’s Oak Wood Continue to Evolve

For more than 57 years, the Founder’s Oak stood as a symbol of The Athenian School’s legacy and pride, welcoming students with its majestic grace. Many considered the landmark a representation of Athenian’s history and a reminder of the school’s humble beginnings. But a new era of Athenian began on the evening of June 2, 2022, when the tree peacefully fell, taking the Athenian community aback with its collapse.

Shortly after the event, the school announced that the tree was going to be preserved for future use. It’s been over a year since the last update on Founder’s Oak and several questions about the wood remain unaddressed, but Athenian faculty members recently shared an update regarding the wood’s whereabouts.

“My understanding is that for big slabs of wood, like what we have behind the middle school, it needs to cure for at least five years, maybe even more,” said Lauren Railey, the head of the middle school. The process of curation begins when larger pieces of wood are divided into several slabs of lumber. The slabs are then stacked on top of each other in a particular formation, allowing for more even airflow between the wood pieces and creating wood that is completely dried and ready for use.

Due to the lengthy amount of time the process of curing requires, the construction of any large pieces of furniture from the Founder’s Oak in the foreseeable future seems unlikely. However, some faculty members have already discovered other ways they can reintroduce the spirit of the Founder’s Oak to the Athenian community.

“What I love about Athenian is that you don’t have to ask too many people for permission; you can just pursue a passion and connect with the community and the resources of the community and see that passion come to life,” said Ninth Grade Dean Mark Lukach.

Utilizing some of the smaller slabs of wood that did not require curing, Mark decided to connect the class of 2027 to Founder’s Oak by designing a small project for his course of Self & Others. “I spend about an hour just sawing up the wood into slices, maybe like the size of a small plate, and then we spend a couple days talking about artistic techniques and ways to depict purpose and then they sketch. And then we go into the CIS and we use wood burning tools, burn their design into the wood, and then we paint on top of it.

“The hope is that it gives students the time to think creatively, but also very literally about the role they will play at Athenian and their time here. One of our goals is that we have to try to articulate what our sense of purpose might be–what is it that we’re good at, what do we love to do, and how can we put those together to help other people?”

Mark also attributed the activity to a memorable experience from the class of 2024. “I was so heartbroken for [the class of 2024], because of the many Athenian traditions that [they] missed out on by COVID, by smoke, et cetera, and I met with a group of other deans and we realized maybe something we can do is create a tradition that starts with the class of 2024, so it’s not just about what they missed, but it’s also what they started.”

Towards the middle of their freshman year, the class of 2024 participated in a new activity designed by Mark. After chopping up wood from a fallen tree that he discovered near Lake Tahoe, Mark assigned each advisory a wood chip, encouraging them to draw and paint a design that could encapsulate their experience at Athenian.

While faculty members like Mark are already beginning to reconnect the tree with the community, creating traditions that have the potential to last for decades, those in charge of treating the wood suggested other ideas on how Athenian can effectively use the precious material.

“It’d be really great if our seniors and maybe our juniors could do something like maybe graduate with having created something with a piece of Founder’s Oak,” said Lauren.

“You all are the last group of kids that really knew how majestic and important it was. It doesn’t have to be something huge, but I’d love to see all of you leave with something that you’ve created using that wood, even if it’s something small.”

In addition to the Founder’s Oak wood, the Athenian community has also developed ideas for how to utilize the space originally occupied by Founder’s Oak.

“What we decided this year,” said Eric Niles, Head of School, “is to try to do experiments with this space.”

Since the collapse of Founder’s Oak, Athenian has initiated the process of renovating the area, constructing sand paths to make it more convenient for students to travel between areas and installing benches and other forms of furniture to create a space where students are able to communicate and connect with others. The decision to turn the space into a student hangout also provides another beneficial effect.

“One of the things I like about that [space] being more alive with students is that as people come to visit the school, you actually see students interacting and the students having fun and being with each other right away,” said Eric.

In addition to discussing the positives of utilizing the space as a way to encourage students to interact with each other, Eric also explained why the school has not decided on planting another sapling in the place of Founder’s Oak. “People said, ‘Well, can we plant another one of the seedlings somewhere else on campus?’ I think the answer to that is maybe; it’s actually more complicated than people think to plant oak trees in California so we would need to learn a little bit more about where we were allowed to plant it, but I would rather have a conversation about how we want to use the space that’s right at our front door,” said Eric, “It’s not that I wouldn’t want to have another tree there, but I’d love to put that up against other uses and ways that the students might use that space.”

In addition to experimenting with the space once occupied by Founder’s Oak, the school also has the liberty of carrying out various projects with some of the smaller slabs of wood. Some potential uses include projects similar to those of the ninth grade Self & Others class, building bird boxes, or game boards.

Lauren said, “I want to see what it becomes; it represents to me something that’s going to be beautiful.”