The Oaks Classical Christian Academy: Oaks grad loves prose and role as a camp counselor

Ava Morris keeps a sizable collection of classical literature at her Post Falls home – with Shakespeare, Dante, Austen and T.S. Eliot among her favorite authors.

Graduating June 13 from the Oaks Classical Christian Academy, Morris said she’ll have to pare down the books she takes with her this fall to attend Hillsdale College, a Christian university in Michigan.

An avid reader, Morris, 17, also loves poetry and writes sonnets. The books she considers at the top of her favorites list are ones that have endured time.

“I love ‘The Divine Comedy’ by Dante,” Morris said. “I love Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen and ‘That Hideous Strength’ by C.S. Lewis – those kinds of books. My favorite books list is very long.

“With poetry, I enjoy reading and writing it. It’s a great way to think about things differently, and of course, more poetically. I’ve been reading T. S. Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets,’ which is incredible poetry.”

She was among 171 high school students recognized on April 21 as a Spokane scholar.

The Spokane Scholars Foundation has awarded scholarships since 1993, with participating high schools selecting a scholar in each of six categories: English, fine arts, math, science, social studies and world languages. Oaks leaders chose Morris to represent the school for academic excellence in English.

At the Oaks in Spokane Valley since sixth grade, Morris said the school’s classical education helped her think critically and view the world through a Christian perspective.

Literature is her passion, and she hopes to be a teacher in literature or history.

Morris, whose mother died in 2021, became an inspiration during her high school years to other students and teachers, said Oaks counselor Lynn Gibson.

“She developed courage and resilience,” Gibson said. “With each year, she has embraced creativity, beauty and opportunity.

“She is known among classmates as being extraordinarily supportive. They also know her for her exquisite note-taking abilities. She writes notes like an artist, almost like calligraphy, and she gladly shares her notes. They’re works of art, her classmates say.”

Gibson said Morris is talented in music and public speaking. She’s admired as a good writer, so much so that her classmates ask her to edit their papers, she said.

“She has just added so much to our school as far as a spark of creativity and imagination,” Gibson said. “She makes up worlds, maps and characters, similar to ‘Lord of the Rings.’ “

Another talent is how well Morris works with young children, Gibson added. “She’s a kid magnet, and she loves to enter the worlds of little kids, six to nine years old. Ava has been an aide for younger students in classes.”

She also served as a camp counselor for young children at a summer day camp, and she plans to do that this year.

Morris considers the classical education offered at the Oaks as foundational, with its emphasis on classical literature and languages.

“It’s almost the building blocks of how we should think,” Morris said. “I’ve found it personally helpful to grow my character and grow the way I think and appreciate the world around me.”

She hopes one day to offer other students the same classical education that she received.

“I would love to come back to the Oaks and be a teacher, or teach anywhere that is a classical Christian school. I love my school very much, and I’d love to come back.”