Intentional Difference

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA | From the outside, it is another day on the calendar – June 28.

For Dowd and Webb Simpson, along with the team at The Oaks in Charlotte that brought to life their vision of how school can be, June 28 will mark the completion of the first year of that enterprise.

To borrow a line, what may appear from the outside to be one small step is in fact part of a giant leap of faith.

It would have been easy enough for the Simpsons to find a suitable school for their five children in south Charlotte, where they live. A cluster of highly regarded public and private schools are within a short drive of their home at the Quail Hollow Club, where the Wells Fargo Championship will be played this week.

But Dowd wanted something more. Something different. Something that energized children about going to school.

With the support of her husband, a past U.S. Open and Players Championship winner, she and two friends embarked on creating The Oaks, a private faith-based school that reshapes the traditional model with ...