Sara Isabel Kaplan ’26 came to Oak Knoll in third grade, primed with determination and focus. Even at that early age, she exhibited an aptitude for learning that her mother felt only a school like Oak Knoll could fully engage. 

“I was reading Harry Potter in second grade during class,” Kaplan related. “So my mom thought I needed something more challenging. After checking out several different schools, she saw Oak Knoll and liked it.”

Over the years, through Oak Knoll’s Lower and Upper School divisions, Kaplan has made her mark. In her first year in grade three, she took it upon herself to organize Club 4 Change, a club that held several fundraisers, including a toy drive that generated over 160 toys for seriously ill children.

Since grade seven, she has enjoyed the arts and has consistently assumed dramatic roles in Oak Knoll plays. For the last two years, she has also joined the cast in school musicals. She is a member of the Concert Choir and Ensemble and puts her creative pen to paper for the school newspaper, Untucked. 

On top of this, Kaplan is a published author. Her article “Mind Matters: Five Simple Habits to Boost Your Mental Health” was published in New Jersey and New York’s Healthy Living Magazine.

From an early age, Kaplan’s prevailing interests have been in the sciences. “I’ve always been interested in the medical field,” she related. “I just didn’t know what exactly in the medical field. My grandmother is a nurse, so I’ve always been aware of the demands of that profession.”

Ultimately, Kaplan would set her sights on the nursing field precisely because of those demands. She explained that she has always been drawn to challenges and problem-solving: “I like not necessarily knowing what’s going to happen next and dealing with the unexpected. I realized nursing was what I wanted to do.”

Emergency Room nursing is a particularly attractive calling for Kaplan due to the staff’s potential to save lives and their penchant for making hard decisions in demanding situations.  

“Having a gentle bedside manner is a plus in nursing, but you also need guts and determination,” Kaplan explained. “The ICU nurses get people that are on their deathbeds, and they have to keep them alive.”

Kaplan experienced this intensity firsthand during the summer of 2024 when she participated in a highly selective nursing camp sponsored by the nursing school at Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth, NJ.

During an action-packed week in the facility, Kaplan learned medical terminology, how the many facets of a hospital work, and how collaboration, teamwork, and a tight-knit unit deliver the best possible patient care. Nurse camp students also learned how to communicate with patients’ friends and family members. In addition to getting insight and advice from medical staff members, students were allowed to shadow nurses as they did their rounds.

“I was shadowing a nurse in the Emergency Room, and someone came in with an overdose,” she recalled. “The staff had to rapidly determine what was happening by running tests and problem-solving.”

The overall experience on the front lines of a busy hospital’s nursing team has all the more solidified Kaplan’s choice of career. She has her sights set on a four-year Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing acknowledging that the competition is stiff and COVID has left a new raft of responsibilities among our nation’s essential workers.

With a year and a half left until graduation from Oak Knoll, she is taking full advantage of the academic offerings to catapult her closer to her goal. She takes Biology this year and plans to take Advanced Placement Biology as a senior. She also looks forward to Oak Knoll’s popular Anatomy and Physiology class and Forensics unit next year. 

Oak Knoll’s many clubs also offer exciting opportunities. Grade seven to twelve students can join Code Blue, a club for students interested in the healthcare industry. Leaders prepare talks with doctors and medical professionals that include presentations and question-and-answer sessions. 

Here’s to future healthcare worker Sara Isabel Kaplan ’26 for her clear vision and desire to put her keen focus, enjoyment of challenges, and calmness under duress into service for others. She is truly a young woman of promise and purpose.