A quirky personality and a funky sense of style are not the only characteristics about former Spanish teacher, Meridith “Seño” Oram. Oram was well known for her teaching skills, her love of her students,, and especially for her rants about large corporations such as Starbucks.

This year, Oram teaches at The Urban School of San Francisco.

“I miss the [SCDS] community, the faculty at all levels. I also miss the Thursday yoga group—a shout out to all the downward-doggers!” Oram said. “I miss all of the students, but I especially miss my seniors!”

The transition from Sacramento to San Francisco was a life-altering decision for Oram.

“I have this ongoing list about things I want to do before I die. One item on the list is to live in a major city and experience urban living. So I am doing it. I love it.” She said.

Teacher Patricia Jacobsen was one of the teachers that helped Oram move.

“I really miss her—we didn’t really hang out as much as I wanted to before she moved to San Francisco,” Jacobsen said.

Jacobsen and Oram worked together on the graduation senior skits and created raps for many seniors at the graduation ceremony including Ian Seyal, ’07, Stephan Yslas, ’08, and Mike Needham, ’08. Their performances always included gold jewelry, fake afros, and gold sunglasses to spice up the performances.

Students were also sad about Oram leaving, including senior Marissa Fullum-Campbell.

“My favorite memories are the times that we had chatting about Starbucks in class—besides that, we went to the Juanes [a Colombian rock musician] concert,” she said.

At Urban, Oram has learned a lot about herself as a teacher.

“Urban has taught me to go with my gut and trust my intuition. I had a feeling that it would be a good fit. So far so good. So estudiantes [students], go for it! Take the risk!” she said.

Her experiences at Country Day helped Oram become a better teacher.

“Working with the students at SCDS broke me into the teenage world,” she said. “They taught me how to work better with adolescents. They witnessed my teaching at the start and helped me evolve and improve.”

However, according to Oram there are major differences between Urban and Country Day.

“At Urban there is less emphasis placed on grades. More attention is put on the process than the product. Students only see their GPAs at the end of the school year.”

“I like the equal focus on learning and service, the focus on finding/developing intrinsic motivation versus focusing on numbers and grades.” Oram said.

Oram also said that Urban is very socially and environmentally aware.

“Being socially aware is more a focus of the school culture. It is also because it is a focus of San Francisco. For example, the entire city composts so we compost at school too,” she said.

Oram said Urban is also different because students and teachers are on a first-name basis. Oram’s students call her Mari.

But the school are similar in that the students and teachers develop relationships and the students attend top colleges and universities, according to Oram.

Now living in the city, Oram enjoys the scenery of Golden Gate Park as well as the other attributes of San Francisco.

“Lately, I have taken to watching the San Francisco skyline,” she said. “Chilling in the park after school is a great way to decompress before heading home.”

Oram has also explored the San Francisco restaurant scene, including Yoshi’s restaurant, which specializes in modern Japanese cuisine, one of her favorite so far.

And she has adapted to the San Franciscan lifestyle. “I haven’t used my car in about a month. I like walking.” Oram said.

Although Oram does not sponsor a Salsa or Mariachi Club as she did at Country Day, she advises the “Jew Crew.”

“I have always wanted to be Jewish and to be part of Jewish culture, so this is just great! Hopefully I will be invited to a Seder or two during Passover.” Oram said.

Surprisingly, Oram has not yet ranted about Starbucks to her new students. But fortunately for her, she has not seen many Starbucks near the school or where she lives.