Oakcrest certainly looks different since Eileen (Schnabel) Byler ‘88 was an Oakie at the original Yuma campus. However, Eileen is pleased to find that, “The school building may have changed over the years, but the commitment to developing young women of outstanding character has not.” 

Eileen attended Messiah College (now Messiah University) and majored in History with a Secondary School Social Studies Concentration. While at Messiah, she was captain of the women’s soccer team, which to this day holds the record for the most NCAA Division III women’s soccer national championships (they’ve earned six). She hoped to become a history teacher, and after graduating got the chance to do just that as a faculty member at Oakcrest. For a year, she taught eighth and ninth grade history and coached the varsity soccer team. While there, she particularly enjoyed being able to have Oakcrest teacher Pat O’Donovan as a colleague and mentor. “I have never met a teacher that was more passionate about her love of teaching,” Eileen says. “I was humbled to have the privilege to share an office with her for one year—I definitely got a crash course in how to become a better teacher. She is why I chose to go into the field of education.”

After getting married, Eileen said goodbye to Oakcrest and moved to Virginia Beach. There, she devoted time to her growing family as a stay-at-home mom. Eventually, she started part-time work with School Technology Programs, training teachers on how to implement technology into their classrooms. Today, she is the owner of her own business, Computer Adventures, and has written a technology curriculum that is currently being used in several private schools. When not working, she loves getting outdoors to walk, bike, or golf, and watch her son play college football. 

Eileen’s fondest memories from her days at Oakcrest include the senior privilege of leaving campus for lunch, as well as meeting Mother Teresa when she visited Washington, DC. She has enjoyed seeing the many ways in which Oakcrest has grown over the years. “I am blown away by the new campus,” she says.  “It is stunning AND it has air conditioning!” She has also been struck by the leaps and bounds in the Oakcrest athletics program, noting that although she played soccer, basketball and softball as an Oakie, she never had a home game because the Yuma campus didn’t have the facilities for one. 

Eileen believes that Oakcrest played a crucial part in forming her into the woman she is today. “A liberal arts education is about learning to think critically, communicate effectively, reason analytically, and act morally,” she explains “My time at Oakcrest helped me to grow as a person in all of these areas.”