Through relationships, purposeful philanthropy, and a shared belief in ODA’s future, our community shows how generosity creates a sense of belonging, expands opportunity, and sustains Out-of-Door for
When Chief Advancement Officer Skylar Beaver arrived at Out-of-Door in September 2025, she brought nearly two decades of experience in educational advancement and a deep belief in the power of community to shape a school. What she could not have fully anticipated was how quickly the ODA community would shape her in return.
Her first year became one of listening, learning, and building relationships. She met families at performances, athletic events, and gatherings across ODA’s campuses. She spoke with alumni who still light up when remembering a teacher who changed the direction of their lives. She connected with longtime supporters whose generosity helped create the campuses students enjoy today and with colleagues whose care for young people is evident in everything they do.
Across those conversations, one message emerged again and again: ODA matters. It has shaped generations of students and families in lasting ways, and its community wants to ensure that it continues to thrive long into the future.
That shared commitment is the foundation Ms. Beaver now has the opportunity to build upon.
A Year Rooted in Relationships
Throughout the year, Ms. Beaver saw the impact of that commitment in the daily life of the school. Whether watching a Lower School performance, cheering on a team from the sidelines, attending Commencement, or simply walking across campus, she encountered students benefiting from a community willing to invest its time, talent, and resources in their growth.
The opportunities that define an ODA education do not happen by accident. They are the result of generations of families, educators, alumni, volunteers, and supporters who believed the school was worth building, strengthening, and sustaining.
Those experiences did more than introduce Ms. Beaver to ODA. They helped clarify where the school’s advancement efforts can have the greatest impact in the years ahead.
That sense of belonging is also at the heart of ODA’s philanthropic priorities.
The Annual Fund remains the school’s most immediate and essential giving priority. It supports the experiences students and educators rely upon every day, enriching academics, arts, athletics, student life, and the many opportunities that distinguish an ODA education. While capital projects create visible transformation across the campuses, the Annual Fund strengthens the daily experience taking place within them.
Endowment provides the bridge between the school ODA is today and the school it will become. Endowed scholarships can expand access for talented students. Endowed faculty positions can help attract and retain exceptional educators. Endowed programs can preserve the experiences and opportunities that make ODA distinctive.
Together, annual giving, capital support, and endowment create a cycle of impact: sustaining the present, responding to emerging needs, and protecting the future.
One of the most meaningful opportunities lies in strengthening relationships with alumni. ODA graduates carry the school with them long after they leave its campuses. Their stories, experiences, and accomplishments remain part of ODA’s larger story, and their connection to ODA should extend far beyond moments of philanthropic support.
Through gatherings, storytelling, mentorship, and continued engagement, ODA can ensure that alumni know the door remains open—not simply because of what they might give, but because they will always belong.
Giving in Action: A Welcome Rooted in Legacy
Every ODA story begins somewhere.
For thousands of students, families, alumni, educators, and visitors, that story begins with a first step onto campus and the immediate sense that they have arrived somewhere special. At the Historic Siesta Key Campus, the newly completed Riley Welcome Center ensures that first impression reflects the warmth, excellence, and belonging that have defined ODA for more than a century.
The Riley Welcome Center is much more than a beautifully renovated building. It represents a thoughtful investment in the future of the campus while honoring the traditions that have shaped generations of students.
Through the adaptive reuse of the former Multi-Purpose Room, ODA preserved the distinctive character of its original campus while creating a centralized hub that better serves today’s families and tomorrow’s learners. Rather than expanding the campus footprint, the school chose to reimagine an existing space—an approach grounded in responsible stewardship, intentional growth, and respect for the history of the campus.
The vision became possible through an initial gift from Katie (SK ’70) and Peter Hayes, parents of Susannah ’01, Kent ’03, and Kelsey ’09, followed by generous support from Jim and Heather Riley, parents of Isabel ’28 and Mason ’27, and Sheri Riley, grandmother of Tristan ’38 and Isla Harless ’40.
Their support reflects a shared desire to preserve what generations have loved about the Historic Siesta Key Campus while ensuring it continues to meet the needs of future ODA families.
Inside, the Welcome Center brings many essential campus services together beneath one roof. Admissions, reception, security, information technology, administrative leadership, collaborative meeting spaces, and flexible work areas now operate within a shared environment designed to improve communication and create a more seamless experience for everyone who enters.
The building also houses the David V. Mahler Historical Gallery, where prospective families can begin their admissions journey by exploring the people, traditions, and enduring values that have shaped ODA throughout its history.
Its impact extends beyond administrative operations. Relocating these functions into a purpose-designed setting allowed other campus spaces to be reconsidered for student use, including the creation of a new Multi-Purpose Room that houses band classes and further strengthens ODA’s commitment to the arts and creative expression.
The project was also designed with its own future in mind. In addition to supporting the renovation, its funding established an endowment dedicated to the long-term care, maintenance, and enhancement of the building. This approach ensures that the Riley Welcome Center can continue serving ODA families for decades while reducing future demands on the school’s operating budget.
It is philanthropy working across generations: honoring the past, transforming the present, and safeguarding the future.
Investing in Possibility: A New Home for Discovery
At the Lower School on Clark Road, purposeful investment is creating a different kind of transformation—one centered on curiosity, creativity, and joyful learning.
The Lower School years are filled with discovery. Children encounter new interests, ask endless questions, and begin to understand how they learn best. Experiences in art, music, science, language, literature, and technology help shape their confidence, imagination, and understanding of the world around them.
Those moments of exploration will soon have a new home in the Specials Studio, an exciting space made possible by the support of an anonymous donor and several Clark Road families.
The initiative reflects ODA’s commitment to creating learning environments that are as thoughtful and intentional as the educational experiences they support. Building 800 is being reimagined as two flexible learning environments designed to support art, STEM, Spanish, art, music, library, and technology.
Rather than simply adding classroom space, the project creates purpose-built environments in which creativity, collaboration, and exploration can flourish.
Every Clark Road student participates in specialty programming each day, meaning every child will learn, create, and grow within these new spaces. The Specials Studio will become a shared part of the Lower School experience—a place where students can uncover new passions, build confidence, and develop skills that extend far beyond a single subject or school year.
The design recognizes that the physical environment plays an important role in how children learn. Collaborative gathering areas, integrated instructional technology, dedicated library space, flexible furnishings, and adaptable teaching spaces will encourage students to engage more deeply with ideas, classmates, and teachers.
Each specialty program will also have dedicated use of its learning environment throughout the instructional day. Instead of adapting a general classroom to meet the needs of different disciplines, students will enter spaces intentionally prepared for the learning taking place there.
As with the Riley Welcome Center, the Specials Studio demonstrates how existing resources can be reimagined to create new possibilities. By transforming familiar buildings, ODA continues to invest in its campuses in ways that are both ambitious and responsible.
Years from now, students may not remember the details of the renovation. They will remember building a first robot, discovering a favorite author, creating artwork they were proud to share, performing in a first concert, or speaking confidently in another language.
They will remember the excitement of trying something new and the confidence that came from discovering what they could do.
Growing Forward
The Riley Welcome Center and Specials Studio are different in their purpose, but they are connected by the same belief: spaces matter because of what they allow people to experience within them.
One welcomes families into ODA’s history and community. The other invites young learners to explore who they might become. Both demonstrate what can happen when generosity is paired with thoughtful planning and a long-term vision.
For Ms. Beaver, these projects also support the lesson at the heart of her first year: ODA is a school worth investing in—not only for the students learning on its campuses today, but for those decades from now.
The Annual Fund sustains the experiences happening now. Capital support allows ODA to respond boldly to new opportunities.
Endowment ensures that the impact of those investments can endure. Alumni, families, educators, and supporters provide the relationships that tie it all together.
“The first year taught me who we are,” Ms. Beaver reflects. “The years ahead are about who we can become.”
At ODA, giving grows when people come together around a shared purpose. It grows through a student’s first discovery, a family’s first welcome, an alumnus’ lasting connection, and a donor’s belief in a future they may never personally see.
And, most importantly, it grows through what the ODA community chooses to build together. Every act of generosity becomes part of something larger, strengthening the experiences of today while creating new possibilities for generations of students, families, and educators still to come.
