It’s the home of the most successful high school basketball program in the country, but where is Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, anyway? The Southeast Virginia Baptist boarding school is hard to find even by car on US Highway 58 and even harder to find on a map, just a few miles from the North Carolina line. The nearest major shopping mall is two hours away. The closest pizza parlor is 15 miles away. You will have to take a 30 to 40 minute drive from the school to find a movie theater or fast food restaurant.
Collegiate basketball coaches know all about the school, with an enrollment of only 126 students, however. They come to recruit players from the Oak Academy Warriors, which has won six mythical national championships in 14 years, including in 2004 and 2005. The team almost had another such championship last year, after 41 straight wins, until it lost its season finale.
Players from Oak Hills Academy haven’t only been successful in college either. NBA stars such as Jerry Stackhouse, DeSagana Diop of the Dallas Mavericks, the NBA championship runner up last year, all-NBA standout Carmelo Anthony, and 2005 NBA Slam Dunk Champion Josh Smith-all played for the Warriors in high school. Diop and Smith went straight from high school to the NBA.
Some might wonder why some of the best high school players in the country choose to spend their final year or two at Oak Hill Academy, a school that is even hard for an outsider to find. Oak Hill Academy is a coed Baptist-affiliated boarding school, with students in grades 8-12. Most students, however, are high school juniors or seniors.
Dr. Michael Groves, in his fifth year as president of the school, said the school is mission-oriented. The annual tuition of $22,000 is lower than for most boarding schools in Virginia, according to Groves. The school survives because of tuition money, because the Virginia Baptist Mission Board gives only three percent of the school’s operating budget.
Although financial scholarships are available based on need, more are given for academic reasons than to members of the basketball team.
Groves said although the basketball program funds itself and some other sports programs, it doesn’t help as much as some people think.
“We’re not a wealthy school,” Groves said on the website, www.sportsspectrum.com. He said every teacher and administrator is “overworked and underpaid.”
The Oak Hills Academy, the school that some people might wonder where it is after looking at a map, is tied to Christian morals and discipline. Students gather in Fletcher Chapel every morning at 7:50, sometimes even including Saturdays, for prayer and a brief devotional message from the Bible.
All students have “Oak Hills” dress, such as khakis with a collared or button-down shirt. The schools provide the outfits, but at the end of the day students can switch to jeans and T-shirt. There is a two hour evening study hall.
The entire student body attends worship services at Young’s Chapel Bible Church on campus on Sundays. Groves said many of the students are Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic, and would not be in that type of worship service if they weren’t at the school.
Groves said the school does “not manipulate” or force students to be Christians. He said the students all need Christ, and seeds are being planted daily.
Regardless of what the faith of the students is or isn’t, there is no doubt that Oak Hill Academy, a school which some might even wonder where it is, turns out good basketball teams and athletes.
