Unified campus offers opportunities to students

The enthusiasm Aubrey Kreider, director of marketing and communications at Lancaster Mennonite School (LMS), feels is obvious when she talks about the recent unification of the Locust Grove and New Danville elementary schools with the LMS middle and high schools on the 95-acre Lincoln Highway East Campus in Lancaster at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year.

Describing the change to the former administrative offices in the Rutt Academic Center, which were remodeled into a MakerSpace and art room for elementary students, Kreider pointed out the room offers large windows, commenting, "It's a beautiful space for kids to be creating (whether) in art class (or) doing hands-on design process ... with art teacher Jenna Longenecker Conde." Kreider also explained how former family consumer science classrooms were transformed into prekindergarten and kindergarten spaces, and she noted that elementary students have a new library media room in what was once a gathering space for high school students. Kreider also lauded the benefits of a larger gym and a new playground.

The unification also made Locust Grove's Spanish immersion program an option for all elementary students. "We have a really thriving program in kindergarten where children are in full Spanish all day," said Kreider, who added that both Spanish and English tracks are available to elementary students, with half the classes in middle school offered in Spanish and an Advanced Placement program in high school. Kreider pointed out that four students from Spain are currently matriculating at LMS and that Lancaster-based students visited Spain during the summer of 2022 as part of that exchange program.

Using campus facilities to promote experiential learning has been the goal of an effort overseen by teacher Galen Sauder, who brings animals from home, including chicks and rabbits, to help teach students. "Because the campus is wooded and has streams, (Sauder takes students) to explore those areas," said Kreider, who noted that younger students are learning about trees or the life forms found in the creek and that high school students are studying forestry and biology in the outdoor setting.

Middle school students are utilizing the greenhouse and the agricultural technology area on the campus. "First thing (when they arrive at school), they water plants ... and help take care of animals," said Kreider. "(The students have a lot of dreams that keep growing because the kids are engaging with those opportunities (at the unified campus)," said Kreider.

LMS has served students in the Lancaster area since 1939. More information about LMS may be found at http://www.lancastermennonite.org.