By Leah Cox
When I finally caught up with Davida Ohayon, a new junior, I still had to wait 47 minutes to speak with her. Why? Two words: drug testing. Fortunately, I filled that time by drafting a supplemental essay for college.
When Davida walked into CC408 for her painting class, I was kind of apprehensive about interviewing her. She had missed a majority of the class period for drug testing, and I figured she probably would want to spend the last 13 minutes actually painting.
When I asked her if she wanted to postpone the interview until after school, she responded kindly with: “We can do the interview right now. Is it okay if I paint while I talk?” Of course, that was fine with me. With record speed, we finished the interview in 7 minutes and 1 second (I didn’t want her to be late for lunch).
Given where we were, it seemed appropriate to ask Davida why she chose to take painting. She glanced over at her canvas beside her—really beautifully colored shapes “If I give you the honest answer, they said I’m required to take art,” she said. “At my old school we didn’t have to take art, we just had to take an elective.”
At her old school, Davida took the marketing elective. With a slightly sad and annoyed expression on her face, Davida said, “If I had kept going, I would have graduated with a certificate stamp on my diploma.”
For Davida, making the transition to Lovett as a junior has been “a thing.” For example, she’s only taking the history component of AmStud, ”because I already took AP Lang at my old school.” She also was disappointed not to be able to participate in Diploma Distinction. Apparently, she’s too late in the game to begin.
Nevertheless, in spite of some scheduling quirks and limitations, she feels the transition has “actually been going well.”
Davida came from a public school, where“the environment is very different. The community, the people, the groups. It’s all just very different.” I could relate. For me, moving schools was a huge culture shift, from what people talked about to how they dressed outside of school hours. I told Davida, “The change took a whole year for me to get used to. Even now, I still observe things that shock me.”
Over the summer, Davida was a waitress, hostess, and food runner at a brewery. Talk about a woman with many hats (and paychecks)!
Right now, she’s actually a hostess at another restaurant. She said the job’s OK. “It’s just a lot.”
I wondered if hostessing was the perfect job for people-watching. Davida said she indeed has lots of opportunities to observe the relationships and interactions of the diners all around her. She and the other co-hostess share simultaneous glances and giggles. “When people walk in, I wonder, are they on a date? If a teen couple is on a date and their parents are right beside them, I wonder is it the boy’s or girl’s parents?” She particularly enjoys observing when someone is underdressed for a date.
This school year, Davida is looking forward to the freedom that comes with being an upperclassman in the Upper School. She loves her free period, especially when it occurs after community time and before lunch. “I get really lucky some days!” Davida is hoping to get an internship for her greatest passion: architecture. And she’s looking forward to taking AP Art History with Mrs. Waterman, a class featuring lots of architecture (at least I think, I’m only a week and a half into the course).
With less than a minute until 1:20 p.m., I asked Davida to tell me anything about herself. Immediately she said: “I’m a die-hard Clemson fan. I want to go to Clemson sooo badly!” Knock-knock Clemson, let this girl in!
Davida Ohayon is probably one of the most kind and hilariously honest people I’ve met at Lovett. If you see her in the hallway or in class, make sure to give her a warm welcome!
And because I’m sure most of you have been curious since reading the title of this article, yes Davida Ohayon is the daughter of Ms. Ohayon, aka Ms. Rosenstein, a really great Upper School English teacher. And yes, she is aware that some students “are not happy with” her mom’s recent quiz.
