By Emma Sylvia
With over 20 sprawling acres to call their own, students of Oak Hill Academy in Lincroft continue to enjoy the campus that was founded back in 1981 by current Head of School Joseph Pacelli. A private school that is co-educational, independent, nonsectarian and nonprofit, Oak Hill Academy offers students and their families the best of the best in academics and beyond.
I sat down with Lincroft resident and Oak Hill Director of Programs and Enrollment, Christina Larkins, to talk all about what makes the school unique and what they have to look forward to in 2026.
Covering All the Lanes
Oak Hill specializes in elementary education, running from Pre-K all the way through eighth grade. “We offer that warm, caring community that is so needed at this time, and at the same time, we offer that engaging, enriching and sometimes challenging academic environment where students will thrive and learn to be the best versions of themselves,” Larkins says.
With a total enrollment of approximately 350, class sizes are kept small and students receive the type of personal attention from teachers that is crucial to learning.
Larkins relays that the students infrequently head home as the class bell rings at the end of the day. One of Oak Hill’s virtues is the plethora of activities offered to students after school, from clubs and academic competitions to sports and theater programs.
“We kid that [the students] don’t leave at the end of the day,” Larkins elaborates. “Our students are here after school. We give them these opportunities, and they take them.”
Just recently, 51 students from grades six through eight competed at Model UN at Christian Brothers Academy, winning a record 19 individual awards as well as the group award for Best Large Delegation. Larkins lauds that for such a small class size, they win big awards. Additionally, the academy’s literary magazine — which contains writing from all students in the upper grades — won first place at the Faire National Yearbook and Education Awards.
The students have also won local and national math competitions, achieved greatness at the National Latin Exams, participated in the Junior Thespian Honor Society, won the division for boys soccer and more.
“We cover all lanes. At Oak Hill, no student residents are in one lane. The kid on the math team is on the basketball team and maybe breaking a record in swimming. They’re all very multifaceted,” Larkins notes.
The Future of Education
In 2026, there is much to look forward to at Oak Hill.
The spring musical will be “School of Rock,” and athletics are in full swing with basketball and swim season (Larkins applauds the swim team, with one student last year breaking every swim record the school ever had, and that student’s cousin entering and breaking a swim record just recently).
“We’ve done quite well and look forward to giving those students these opportunities,” she says.
During the school day itself, students are ardently taught to hone their presentation and speaking skills. The seventh grade works on their big project, Boss Club, a program reminiscent of the TV show “Shark Tank,” where students spend the school year developing, marketing and pricing an idea or product, with a large forum toward the end of the year giving them the opportunity to present and sell what they’ve made. “Some of them have even made businesses out of it,” Larkins says.
Meanwhile, the sixth graders will learn to make their own escape room in a popular class called Explorations, which aims to hone problem solving skills. The class encourages students to be creative, from solving puzzles to learning to help the world at large, like brainstorming how to aid water filtration problems for a community in Africa.
“In terms of a global view of 2026 and what we’ve been working towards is the merging of AI in education,” Larkins says. With artificial intelligence on the rise, Pacelli forged the pathway for its integration at Oak Hill. The staff will teach students how to use it responsibly in order to enhance their education as opposed to circumventing it. “We’ve been working for three years now on putting our school at the forefront on how to best utilize how to teach AI in a responsible and ethical way, and a way that shows them how they’re going to use it in everything they do. We use products, like Magic School AI, that are very tailored toward education,[with] a student side and teacher side for those tools.”
Oak Hill is one of the few schools that holds the RAIL – Responsible AI Learning – certification. The staff is constantly working toward their new goal to harness the power of emerging technologies without replacing anything human.
2026 – and Beyond
For other events coming up, Larkins jokes about midterm exams being an event for older grades to “look forward to.”
“Our kids are kids. They’re not gonna say, ‘We’re looking forward to midterms.’ But we teach them how to study for something like that without making it feel overwhelming. Our feedback from alumni is always that they weren’t nervous going into high school.”
First graders participate in a math day where parents and guardians are encouraged to complete math games alongside the students in order to experience how and what their children are learning. The second graders will hold a State and World Fair, where they will learn about different cultures and interact with other families. In May, the kindergarten has a tradition of singing and dancing around the school’s Maypole. Pre-K students have a "Spring Sing" where they serenade the letters "Q" and "U" who get married at the event. Third graders participate in a “wax museum,” where students read various fiction and non-fiction novels and dress up as the characters in them, acting as statues until someone walks up and engages them, prompting them to act as their “character.” Fourth graders will visit the NJ State Theater in the winter and go searching for sharks' teeth in the spring. Finally, the school will host their critical fundraiser, a Walk-A-Thon, which will raise money for everything from new lockers to playground equipment, and more.
Over the past 45 years, Oak Hill has expanded physically, from the beautiful boardwalk that acts as a nature trail to the science center to the impressive post and beam construction of the student activities center to the three outdoor tennis courts.
“There’s a uniqueness to our campus that the students seem to really love,” she says. “Everyone says the same thing: ‘I didn’t know it was that big!’”
The unique campus, coupled with their renowned focus on academics, offers students a warm, family, communal environment in which to thrive.
“That’s the feel of the school. It’s hard to put in print,” Larkins says. “Any time someone is on campus, that’s the feedback I tend to get. It’s because of the community we have and the teachers. Our teachers love what they do, and they stay. That character is hard to quantify, but it’s easy to feel when you’re on campus.”
To learn more about Oak Hill Academy, visit oakhillacademy.com or reach out to admissions@oakhillacademy.com
