Since the opening of the Sydell and Arnold Miller Fab Lab at the Gates Mills campus in 2016, Upper School students have had access to an ideal environment for developing and applying both their computational and creative thinking skills. Providing similar experiences for Lower and Middle School students has, to date, required that they travel to the Upper School campus - or that Director of Maker Spaces Nick DiGiorgio transport a mobile unit to the Lyndhurst campus. With the upcoming opening of the Innovation Lab at Lyndhurst, students in preschool through grade 8 will have their own 3,600 square foot space and the tools they need to explore, design, and create. This addition will result in an unprecedented total of 8,000 square feet of combined maker spaces on the Lyndhurst and Gates Mills campuses.

In preparation for the opening of the Innovation Lab, faculty members at each grade level are designing projects that will bring students to the Innovation Lab to enhance their units of study and their maker mindsets. With the ongoing implementation of this programming, Hawken will be among the first schools to develop a sequential maker curriculum that spans the Lower, Middle, and Upper School, ultimately serving as a model for schools across the nation.

Read more about the Innovation Lab here, and stayed tuned for more details about the timing of the fall Grand Opening in the weeks ahead.