What's Happening in Cougar Country

Each weekday morning, the entire school community gathers in the gym for prayer and the recitation of the school’s Mission Statement. 

Most alumni and current students know the school’s Core Values.

But there’s a lesser-known Belief Statement that helped inspire three new and reimagined spaces in the school this year.

“We believe the education of our students includes the development of the whole person in a diverse world.”

The whole person.

As the school year begins, these spaces will serve to support Lake Catholic students in mind, body, and spirit. 

“All of these new rooms are physical examples of how our faculty and staff sought to help students,” said Dean of Academics Jim Slike (’07), who worked alongside Assistant Principal of Academics Maghen Frindt to lead the redevelopment of the spaces.

“We were very deliberate with each of the spaces,” he said. “The work of our teachers and staff can continue in these provided rooms. The desire to help our students has always existed; we just had to provide the necessary resources for that to best take place – to provide spaces to help strengthen our students’ minds, bodies, and spirits.”

The whole person.

The Fiat Room

Fiat is Latin for “let it be done” or “let it be.” In Luke 1:38, Mary told the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum” — “Let it be done to me according to your word.”

Located in the back of the St. Thomas Aquinas Learning Center, the Fiat Room is a space for student leaders and clubs to meet and plan, and for students in need of tutoring, study skills, and executive functioning skills to find that support.

In supporting students academically while also giving them opportunities to lead and collaborate, the Fiat Room is a space intentionally dedicated to strengthening the mind.

“It has recently been a place where our students could get extra help, where we housed our tutoring services and writing lab,” Slike said. “Now, those things are still available, but we’ve expanded the area for directed studies, as well as after-school, student-led activities and meetings.”

The Serenity Room

At the end of Main Hall, the Serenity Room is designed for students (and adults) in need of a space to recharge, reflect, and regulate.

“The conversation for a space like this started early last school year,” Slike said. “There was a need for a quiet space where students can safely go, still be monitored, but be in a soothing environment.”

“People have needed a space to take a moment and effectively regulate their nervous system across all times,” Frindt said. “The growing body of information from neurocognitive psychology has helped educators make decisions regarding our best practices. A space that allows students and adults alike to regulate their system is a best practice that Lake Catholic can now offer every student.”

The room was created largely with resources the school already had, along with a few new additions. Soft lighting, calming imagery, and intentional color choices help create a soothing environment, while peaceful music and video play in the background. The Serenity Prayer hangs prominently on the wall.

The space recognizes that educating the whole person also means caring for the body.

“There are other schools with spaces designed for similar reasons,” Frindt said. “While we are certainly inspired by other high schools as frontrunners, Lake Catholic is happy to present a version of this space that is uniquely Catholic in nature. We know that our God is a God of beauty; the design of this room is inspired by the Serenity Prayer and grounded in the beauty of God's nature.”

The Prayer Rooms

The three open rooms in the back-right corner of the Aquinas Center are dedicated to personal prayer during the day.

“The chapel isn’t always available to students during the school day, so these are separate rooms where they can go, dedicated to prayer and faith,” Slike said.

Together, the three rooms provide dedicated spaces to care for the spirit, giving students a quiet place to step away from the busyness of the school day and spend time in prayer.

Students are able to use the Prayer Rooms during their lunch periods or study halls.

The Prayer Rooms were funded in part by the Rooted in Faith Grant the school received last year from the Catholic Community Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports the Diocese of Cleveland. The Lake Catholic Parent Association also provided financial support.

Individually, each space serves a different purpose. The Fiat Room provides resources for students to grow academically and as leaders. The Serenity Room gives them a place to pause, regulate, and care for their well-being. The Prayer Rooms offer quiet spaces to strengthen their faith and relationship with God.

Together, though, they represent something bigger.

They are spaces for the mind, body, and spirit — tangible reminders that educating students at Lake Catholic has never been limited to what happens inside a classroom.