Creativity Across Continents

Separated by continents and time zones, students at Oaks Christian School and Wycombe Abbey pulled off an amazing feat: writing, recording and producing original music together in two short weeks, 

At 6:00am in California, Oaks Christian students logged onto Zoom with  collaborators nearly 5,000 miles away in England. While OCS students were just beginning their day, students at Wycombe Abbey were ending theirs.  

Despite the distance, the students quickly discovered a shared creative rhythm, collaborating across oceans to compose, refine, and produce original songs in real time. 

The result can now be heard on the 2026 Oaks Christian School EP, “Changing with the Wind,” which celebrated its release this past week and is now available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming platforms. Among the featured tracks is the international collaboration song “Holding Me Back.” 

The international songwriting collaboration began after Mary Kay Altizer traveled to Wycombe Abbey, an all-girls boarding school in England, last summer. Invited by the school to work alongside their music program, Wycombe Abbey explored ways to expand beyond its more traditional approach to performing arts. 

(The song writing collaboration was a furtherance of the original partnership established between Oaks Christian and Wycombe Abbey two years ago). 

Inspired by the visit and the professional relationships formed abroad, Altizer partnered with music production teacher Eddie Grey to create a formal songwriting collaboration between the two schools. Together, the teachers organized virtual meetings, learning objectives, and creative goals to guide the experience between both campuses. 

Beginning in January 2026, OCS students were placed into collaborative groups alongside Wycombe Abbey students. Each team met virtually throughout the songwriting process, balancing early mornings in California with late evenings in England. 

For sophomore songwriting student Bella Montez, the collaboration quickly became more than simply writing music. 

“It was a lot of emotional bonding on top of creative collaboration,” Montez said. 

Her group met consistently over Zoom, spending class periods discussing lyrics, chord progressions, melodies, and personal experiences that could shape their song. 

“A lot of it was just talking through how we feel or things that we could put into our song,” she explained. 

Though students had about two weeks to complete the project, Montez said the experience allowed her to see both her own growth and the growth of her classmates in real time. 

“It’s great to watch my own work improve throughout this time,” she said, “and also watch all my classmates and get to know them more.” 

For senior vocal student Sabastian Barrera, the experience marked an even bigger personal milestone. Before this year, Barrera had never taken a songwriting class. 

“My teachers had been bugging me to do it,” he said with a laugh. “I was like, ‘You know what? I’ll give it a try senior year.’” 

That decision led Barrera into an intense but rewarding creative process. His group combined guitar, vocals, piano, and production skills to create a storytelling-driven pop song. 

“We didn’t want it to be just your normal, typical pop song,” Barrera said. 

As the collaboration developed, students naturally stepped into different creative roles while still contributing ideas across every aspect of the song. 

“It was this wonderful mix of everyone having their own job… but at the same time, you weren’t restricted,” Barrera explained. 

The process was not without challenges. Students adapted quickly however, learning how professional creative collaboration often requires flexibility. 

“There were definitely some sacrifices made,” Barrera said. “There was a lot of learning to adapt… how to roll with the punches.” 

For Barrera, the experience ultimately became about more than songwriting itself. One of the songs featured on the EP is the first song he ever attempted to write, a project that took nearly two years to complete. 

“It’s the first song I’ve ever written… and now it’s going to be on the EP,” he said. “I’m so excited.” 

As the project came to a close, both students reflected on the lasting impact the experience had on them creatively and personally. Beyond writing songs, students built friendships, gained confidence, and discovered the power of collaboration across cultures and continents. 

“I don’t want to leave this place having that question,” Barrera said, reflecting on his decision to pursue songwriting during his senior year. “Even if you don’t achieve what you were looking for… you can go at the end of the day knowing that you tried.”