Westwood High School's Oxford Program Enters Its 14th Year

Westwood High School’s (WHS) English department will send twenty members of the class of 2019 to study at Oxford University in July as part of The Oxford Program. Now in its fourteenth year, The Oxford Program has recent WHS graduates join Bridgewater State University’s (BSU) Bridgewater-at-Oxford program to study at England's Oxford University’s Wadham College.

The Oxford Program is led by WHS English teacher Karen Brackman. Brackman studied at Oxford before beginning her master’s program at Harvard University. She oversaw the first WHS Oxford Program in 2006, and notes “[it] has been deemed a success in every year.” The Oxford Program is taught by Oxford University professor Dr. Emma Plaskitt, who is an expert on Jane Austen. Austen’s work is the subject of the course program participants take.

Westwood High School and Oxford Program alumna Gabrielle Ouellette reports her first introduction to the program was in Brackman’s Freshman English class. “I actually remember Mrs. Brackman giving a slideshow presentation on the Oxford Program in my Freshman year English class, and I immediately knew...that I wanted to apply when I was a Senior. She gave us a bit of an ‘Oxford Program teaser,’ briefly discussing the curriculum, the variety of group outings, and to many students' astonishment, the ever-popular visits to Harry Potter filming locations in the area. As a lover of English, I was so incredibly excited for what the future could have in store; I ran home and detailed everything to my parents. I wanted nothing more than to take advantage of the opportunity to study at such an amazing University with other passionate and engaged students.”

This year, the twenty students who will be attending The Oxford Program include musicians, athletes, actors, activists, community leaders, and more. They are Bridget Pickard, Talia Pincus, Riley Murray, Eamon Doherty, Sami Parazin, Taylor Fleming, Braden Loughnane,Trey Ursillo, Julia Papavasiliou, Matthew Donlon, Anneli Ramolins, Victoria Webb-Johnson, Owen Flanagan, Ryan Lewis, Courtney Uek, Maria Kontogiannis, Jane Krumsiek, Alexander Bloukos, Liam Rooney, and Alexander Mellot. Brackman reports that there are sixteen students on the waitlist for The Oxford Program. WHS students must be eighteen years old to participate.

“The Oxford Program is a ‘mini gap year,’ allowing recent Westwood High School graduates to dip their toe into indepence...parents have commented to me that they dropped a child off at the airport and picked up a young adult,” says Brackman. Students’ recommendations to participate in the program relies upon their decorum and maturity, and Brackman notes proudly that in fourteen years of The Oxford Program there has never been a negative incident.

This year’s Oxford Program will take place from July 5-July 26, 2019. The Oxford Program costs the recent Westwood High School graduates who participate $4,050. No financial aid is available for this program through WHS. As the program takes place through BSU, participants receive three college-level English credits. Depending on the college they attend, students may be able to use this credit towards their degree. Ouellette reports “I am able to use my BSU credits at my university as upper division credits. Entering college with credits is extremely helpful for scheduling and gives me more room to experiment with fun elective courses in the future.”