Bishop Noll Institute has announced plans to renovate its former natatorium into a state-of-the-art STREAM Lab and Innovation Center with a goal of opening for classes in Fall 2019.
The $1 million-plus project, to be funded primarily by the school’s Ignite & Inspire capital campaign, was given the go-ahead Aug. 27 at a special meeting of the Bishop Noll School Board and is the centerpiece of the school’s drive to become the first elite STREAM school in Indiana, BNI President Paul Mullaney said.
“We are grateful to our principal, Lorenza Jara Pastrick, and her faculty STREAM team on their vision for this facility, which will be unlike any other in our region,” Mullaney said. “The team has developed a vision for our second century that does more than prepare our young men and women for a future in STEM careers. At Bishop Noll, on top of the 21st century learning skills, we feel it is necessary to incorporate the truths of faith and beauty in the world God has given us.”
STREAM is Noll’s version of STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math. Pastrick said expanding the curriculum at Bishop Noll to incorporate religion (R) and the arts (A) fully integrates two of the school’s curricular hallmarks.
“It truly is who we are,” Pastrick said. “As principal, it is my goal to elevate Bishop Noll to become the first elite, fully-integrated STREAM high school in Indiana as we propel BNI into a new century of learning and a second century of service to northwest Indiana and southeast Chicagoland.”
Bishop Noll, which opened as Catholic Central High School in 1921 and is now in its 98th school year, follows the nationally respected STEM curriculum of Project Lead the Way, then adding religion and arts components. All freshmen take BNI’s introductory STREAM course, after which various electives are offered in areas of engineering, computer programming and, coming soon, biomedical courses. These are offered at Noll in addition to more traditional science courses, Pastrick said.
The innovative STREAM Lab will consist of a learning studio and design lab, with flexible seating allowing students to work collaboratively; a makerspace for more hands-on work and creating prototypes based on original designs; and a prototype studio to build models and use larger equipment as students build final products for display.
“This Innovation Center will create a welcoming environment, and will enhance our curriculum and our STREAM vision at Bishop Noll,” Pastrick said. “The faculty and students are excited for its possibilities, and we are grateful to our supporters of the capital campaign for making this happen.”
The Ignite & Inspire campaign, to date, has raised nearly $1.9 million of its $3.5 million goal, Mullaney said. In addition to funding the STREAM Lab, the campaign will help renovate outdoor athletic facilities and fund an endowment to assist BNI faculty members seeking advanced degrees or training.
“We are grateful to our donors, and we continue to prayerfully ask our stakeholders and community members to invest in the future of our BNI students by making a generous gift to Ignite & Inspire before our campaign concludes in December of 2019,” Mullaney said.
Mullaney said gifts can be made online, at bishopnoll.org, or by contacting him at pmullaney@bishopnoll.org.
The STREAM Lab renovation will fully convert the school’s former pool area, which has not been used for swimming in more than 20 years. In 2010, the pool was filled and the multipurpose facility was dedicated as the Whelan Activity Center. Upon completion, the room will be rededicated as the Whelan Innovation Center, home to the Bishop Noll STREAM Lab.
Though not having a pool, Bishop Noll continues to produce boys and girls swim teams.
The STREAM Lab will be the latest of many technology and building upgrades at Bishop Noll in recent years, Mullaney said. The school has strategically performed upgrades of bandwith to support the 1-to-1 iPad program now in place, and in the spring final touches were implemented in the conversion of the school’s library into a 21st century, technology-driven media center.