We expect the kids at the Red Oaks School will be cheering so loudly next month that Team USA will hear them all the way in Sochi, Russia.
That’s because an alumna of the Morristown private school will be skating for the women’s hockey team.
Nineteen-year-old Alexandra “Alex” Carpenter, daughter of former New Jersey Devils player Bobby Carpenter, was named to the team on New Year’s Day.
It came as no surprise to those who knew her in town. Alex was the first girl in a quarter-century to play in the Morristown Little League.
“Alex was the quintessential Montessori student. Focused and reserved, she seemed mature for her age. She brought dedication and commitment to everything she did,” recounted elementary teacher Irene Avlonitis.
When Alex and her younger brother Robert attended, Red Oaks was known as Montessori Children’s House of Morristown. Their father brought the Stanley Cup there in 2003. Alex played high school hockey at The Governor’s Academy, in South Byfield, Mass. She has taken off her junior year at BC to prepare for the Olympics.
“It was an honor to be putting the Team USA jersey over my head,” Alex told USA Hockey magazine. “It’s really what every athlete in the U.S. dreams of.”Here is more, from the Red Oaks School:
Former Morristown Resident Alexandra Carpenter Heads for
Sochi, Russia, with the 2014 Women’s USA Hockey Team
Morristown, NJ— While she was at The Red Oaks School (then, Montessori Children’s House of Morristown) she wore her hockey jersey to school nearly every day. Everyone knew that she was an athlete, and she brought that same drive and perseverance to everything she did here – work, play, friends, community. Elementary teacher Irene Avlonitis remembers her as conscientious and thoughtful, “Alex was the quintessential Montessori student. Focused and reserved, she seemed mature for her age. She brought dedication and commitment to everything she did.”
One would have to say she had GRIT. On January 1, 2014, Alex Carpenter (Boston College,’15) was named to the U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team.
Born in 1994, Alexandra “Alex” Carpenter will be just 20 years old in April, but she’s already had an illustrious ice hockey career. Born in North Reading, Massachusetts, Alex moved with her family to Morristown, New Jersey as a child. She is the daughter of former NHL player Bobby Carpenter who played for the NJ Devils between 1993 and 1999. It was during his time with the Devils that he would help the team win their first Stanley Cup in the lockout-shortened 1994–95 NHL season. After retirement, Bobby Carpenter stayed on as an assistant coach, winning two more cups with New Jersey in 2000 and 2003. He even brought the Stanley Cup to Red Oaks in 2003.
While living here in New Jersey, Alex became the first girl in 25 years to play softball in the Morristown Little League and was the first girl toever play as a 10-year-old. She played pitcher, catcher and shortstop positions. She also started playing hockey. By her middle school years, Alex was following firmly in her father’s footsteps playing with a male hockey team that included her younger brother and Red Oaks/MCH Alum Robert Carpenter. She attended high school at The Governor’s Academy, in South Byfield, Massachusetts, where she played for USA Hockey, the governing body of amateur level hockey, in a dynamic program for high school girls called the “U18″ program — for players under 18.
In the fall of 2013, Alex matriculated at Boston College and signed up with the Boston College Eagles women’s ice hockey program, where she has distinguished herself and attracted the attention of Olympic hockey officials. An article written last spring for Boston College Magazine talks about Carpenter’s rise within the USA Hockey ranks, arrival at BC, and her bid for the Olympic team, training and qualifying at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid along with fellow BC student and player Haley Skarupa.
When the national team roster was announced … it included Alex Carpenter but not Haley Skarupa. That means … Carpenter will be taking her junior year off from college, focusing all her efforts on workouts this fall with the national team and then, assuming she makes the final cut in December, preparing for the Olympics, which take place in February. (Boston College Magazine, Fast Break, Dave Denison)
Recently, Alex Carpenter did make the cut, joined the U.S. Women’s Olympic Ice Hockey Team, and will be headed to Sochi, Russia, for the 2014 Winter Olympics, Feb 7-23. In USA Hockey Magazine Alex is quoted, “It was an honor to be putting the Team USA jersey over my head,” she says. “It’s really what every athlete in the U.S. dreams of.”
As one faculty member wrote across the top of a recent article about the USA team posted in the Red Oaks staff kitchen, “GO ALEX!”
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ABOUT THE RED OAKS SCHOOL
The Red Oaks School, founded in 1965, is a fully accredited independent day school serving a diverse population of students, ages 3 to 12: “The mission of the Red Oaks School is to lay the foundation for students to be engaged global citizens, equipped with 21st century skills. Our dynamic curriculum is based on core Montessori principles, enhanced by current educational research. The Red Oaks School provides a culturally diverse environment in which students develop a love of learning, a strong social conscience, and a spirit of discovery as they pursue their full academic and personal potential.” The school is among a select group of schools nationwide to earn accreditation from both the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the American Montessori Society. The Red Oaks School admits students regardless of sex, race, and religious beliefs.
