Lake Ridge Academy

Infobox Private School


motto = "To Aspire is to Be"
name = Lake Ridge Academy
established = 1963
type = Private
religion = none
head_name = Head of school
head = Carol Klimas (President)
city = North Ridgeville
state = OH
country = USA
campus = Suburban
enrollment = 366
faculty = 60 full-time
class = 15 students
ratio = 8:1
SAT = 1860
year = 2008
athletics = Boys & Girls Tennis, Boys & Girls Basketball, Boys & Girls Soccer, Boys Baseball, Girls Softball, Boys Wrestling, Girls Volleyball, Co-ed Golf, and Co-ed Track & Field
colors = Blue and Gold
mascot = Lion
homepage = [http://www.lakeridgeacademy.org/ www.lakeridgeacademy.org]

Lake Ridge Academy (LRA) is an independent K-12 school in North Ridgeville, Ohio, United States, founded in 1963. The only independent school on the west side of Cleveland, Lake Ridge is one of the smallest private schools in the Cleveland area, with 366 students enrolled in the past year.

The school facilities include open fields, wooded areas, a pond, a creek, six tournament quality tennis courts, an all-weather track, five playing fields, and a vast amount of property. The buildings on the Lake Ridge campus include Lower, Middle, and Upper School buildings, the Bettcher Convocation Center, which houses classrooms, a stage, and an auditorium, the Community Resource Center, a building holding four foreign language classrooms, three computer labs, a video lab, a Kiva gathering place, and a K-12 library which boasts over 21,000 books and periodicals. The campus also includes a recently renovated, full-size hardwood floor gymnasium, a Fine Arts Center with Lower, Middle and Upper School art studios, four acoustical vocal and instrumental music rooms, and a Black Box theater.

Although the school's main focus is academics and the success of the students who attend, Lake Ridge Academy has recently been placing more emphasis on athletics and hard sciences.

LRA is portioned into three divisions: Lower School (K-5), Middle School (6-8), and Upper School (9-12).

Administration

The school's newly inducted President, Carol Klimas, had previously been employed as the Executive Vice President and Head of KeyCorp's Wealth Management Segment. She has a great deal of experience managing nonprofit organizations, having worked for the National Arthritis Foundation, the Red Cross, the United Way and the YMCA. The position of Head of Academics will be held by Stanley Way, who had previously been filling an interim position as Head of School. Stanley Way will be leaving at the end of the 2007-2008 school year.

The Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Lake Ridge Academy

The Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurial Studies involves students in a new way of doing things and a new way of seeing things. The intent is to tap into that entrepreneurial spirit that lives in us all, and to learn “why the world wags and what wags it.”

The Entrepreneurial Studies Program prepares students for the global market in which they will operate by providing them with an understanding of the concept and theory of economics and business practices. It provides opportunities to learn the basic principles of the free enterprise system, to acquire outstanding leadership and communication skills, and to meet the unique challenges of a rapidly evolving world.

Designed to augment the coursework required for graduation with an extensive exploration of the principles of entrepreneurship, the Program combines extensive coursework with experiential learning through cutting-edge technology and significant community outreach

Recent Events

Lake Ridge annually participates in the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education's Mock Trial competition, and took first place in the state of Ohio in the 2008 competition. The team moved on to the national competition, held in Wilmington, Delaware, and were ranked 13th in the nation.

This past April, the Lake Ridge Robotics Team won the LEGO Grand Challenge sponsored by Case Western Reserve University. Of the 22 teams from schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania, 2 of the 3 Lake Ridge teams placed in the top 50%, including the winning team. This was the first time Lake Ridge has ever won the LEGO Robotics Challenge.

David and Lisa, the first Lake Ridge theatre production to be adjudicated for the State Thespian Conference, was selected for a full performance at this year's event. Only a handful of high school productions are given this honor each year. The 2008 State Thespian Conference was held April 4-6 at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.

In 2007, the Men's Soccer Program won the school's first ever District Championship and earned a spot in the state's regional semifinals. They ended the season with a record of 15 and 5, the school's best record to date.

Notable Alumni

- Briefly attended by Brian K. Vaughan, comic book writer.

External links

* [http://lakeridgeacademy.org/ Lake Ridge Academy official website]