LEWIS CENTER — Olentangy Academy will soon have a new bioscience lab to provide STEM Academy students with new, specialized research equipment.
The lab, which is already under construction, will take over space that was formerly administrative offices and storage. The building will be open before December, Olentangy Academy Program Administrator Lisa Nemeth said.
“It’ll look similar to a regular classroom in the sense that there will be tables and there’s a teaching area, but we’ll have lots of sinks, we’re going to have refrigerators, we’ll have workspaces that model bioscience spaces now,” Nemeth said.
The lab is designed to mirror professional and collegiate research environments for high school students.
Instead of standard high school biology setups, students gain experience with industry-grade equipment in several STEM fields, including a chromatography machine.
Nemeth said she’s still finalizing what other equipment will fill the space.
Construction of the new lab was initially slated to cost $457,618 after the board awarded the project to the lowest bidder, Equity Construction Services.
However, at the Aug. 27 meeting, the board approved McHugh Construction to complete the project for $393,000 after Equity “failed to timely commence work on the project,” according to an Aug. 27 resolution.
The project will be completely covered by a $2.4 million Ohio Career Technical Education Equipment grant the district received in 2024.
New lab will enhance the STEM program
Nemeth said that part of the STEM experience is to increase career awareness, make any career accessible and present authentic opportunities for students to do that.
Olentangy Academy offers three career-specific programs to high school students in the district:
- STEM Academy, where students take courses related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The courses are hands-on, allowing students to solve real-world problems, conduct relevant research and work with professionals in a variety of STEM fields. This is the largest program, serving 300 students.
- Teacher Academy, where students interested in pursuing a career in education deepen their understanding of what teachers do and gain real-word experience through student teaching within the district.
- The Academy for Student Transition, where students with special needs prepare for life after graduation up until the day before they turn 22. These students must have met all academic requirements and wish to participate in a post-secondary transition program to prepare for employment.
Nemeth said the STEM program is the most popular, with some kids unable to attend the program due to space constraints.
Other kids in the district seek the Delaware Area Career Center’s biomedical program as an alternative, but it’s the highest wait-listed program at the school, Chief Academic Officer Michelle Blackley, Ed.D., said.
Blackley added that around the same time the district received the grant, the Educational Service Center did an audit of career pathways and programming.
Part of the audit included talking to students from all four high schools about what careers they were most interested in.
“Health sciences was number one, law was number two and STEM was third,” Blackley said.
“Part of why we’re putting so much of the grant money into this bioscience lab is because it’s what our kids have shared they’re most interested in.”
