LF_040518

10 | April 5, 2018 | The lake forest leader NEWS
LakeForestLeader.com
New science building at LFC offers functionality for students, teachers
Alyssa Groh, Editor
As teaching methods
change to support more
interactive learning, the
classrooms and facilities
inside the science center
at Lake Forest College required
updates.
The new center, which
will now be called the Lilard
Science Center, was named
after John and Paula Lillard,
of Lake Forest, do donated
money for the project.
The center will see a
newly constructed building
and updates to the older
wings.
The new building officially
opened to students
and teachers for the spring
2018 semester. The building
will be home to more
than 70 labs.
Douglas Light, a science
professor and liaison of
the project, said students
and teachers alike are impressed
with the changes.
“We have gotten high
praise regarding the new
building,” Light said. “A
lot of people are thinking,
‘Why didn’t we do this earlier?’
It is not just the newness
of the building, it is
more than that. It is the way
the space is designed. It really
supports the things we
are trying to do.”
When renovations first
began, the original vision
was to improve the facility
to support more learning.
“We wanted an infrastructure
that is going to
support the science of
teaching using modern
pedagogies,” Light said.
The biggest difference
in the new and updated
facilities is the way the
classrooms offer interactive
and movable learning.
The updated classrooms
offer easy to move tables
to redesign space for a variety
of groups.
From the very beginning
the professors were
involved in every step of
the process.
Chemistry Professor
Dawn Wiser said one of the
things the professors strived
for in the new design of
classrooms was developing
classrooms that catered to
each specific class.
Designing rooms for
specific classes, such as
physics and chemistry,
gives teachers the ability
to utilize the room and
technology according to
the curriculum.
One of the most important
things she and Light
mentioned was the ability
for interdisciplinary classes
to combine.
The new center will now
be home to seven different
programs including biology,
chemistry, physics,
There are more than 70 science labs inside the new Lillard Science Center at Lake Forest College, which opened in
January. PHOTO Submitted by Lake Forest College
“We have gotten high praise regarding the new building. ... It is
not just the newness of the building, it is more than that. It is the
way the space is designed. It really supports the things we are trying
to do.”
Douglas Light — Lake Forest College professor on the new Lillard Science Center at Lake Forest
College.
psychology, environmental
studies, neuroscience biochemistry
and molecular
biology.
Light noted the importance
of having a variety of
disciplines in one building.
“We have a brand new
building that increased
the size of the building by
about 50 percent,” Light
said. “Part of that increase
in size is not just to deal
with the demand in science
by students, but we are
also bringing other departments
over. That is important
as there will be some
interdisciplinary between
different departments.”
As part of the interdisciplinary,
many of the
new labs are divided by
a wall with a large glass
window so students can
see what others are doing,
and collaborate and learn
from one another.
The project will officially
be completed following
renovations to the older
wings by the start of the
2018-19 school year.
For more information on
the new space, visit www.
lakeforest.edu.
D-67
From Page 3
Board that the North Shore
Special Education District
is facing an almost $5 million
deficit with a drop of
68.5 FTE students because
some of the member districts
are taking back classroom
instruction. Sands
said at the March meeting
theNorth Shore Special
Education District administration
presented the second
draft of the 2018-19
budget in which they eliminated
that deficit.
“They really went to
the mat,” she said. “They
looked at all of their programs
in depth. They did it
in cooperation with member
districts and really getting
their heads around exactly
what NSSED (North
Shore Special Education
District) is going to be,
coming from all the member
districts, and looking at
ways they could gain efficiencies
to get that done.”
Sands added that the
North Shore Special Education
District now needs
to look at their facilities,
and they will present the
third draft of their budget at
the next meeting.
Committee Reports
Board Member Jeff
Folker reported that Renee
Fitzsimmons updated
the Education Committee
on the implementation of
social emotional learning
standards into D67. There
are five social emotional
learning competencies that
need to be worked into
the District’s curriculum
within a two-to-three year
time frame, mandated by
the State of Illinois.
The Education Committee
is also working on some
new technology initiatives
which include replacing the
current free learning management
software system
in use at Deer Path Middle
School with either Google
Classroom or Schoology.
Both would come at an additional
cost, but provide
advantages over the current
system. Folker said Schoology
has the other advantage
that it is in use at Lake Forest
High School, so the middle
school students would
have a seamless transition.
Ford also reported on
the most recent Finance
and Operations Committee
meeting at which Jennifer
Hermes and Brittany
Tjardes presented a detailed
review of the current 2017-
18 budget. The good news
is the District is ahead of
budget, but that is subject
to change in the event of
an unexpected occurrence.
Ford said the next committee
meeting will be June
20 at which Hermes and
Tjardes will preview the
budget for 2018-19.