Robotics engineers, dancers, and artists have all acquired new work spaces on Lane’s first floor. The remodeled rooms include an art gallery, a dance studio, a lecture room, a creation lab, and an art studio space.

“The most exciting thing about the new classrooms is seeing ‘tech’ back in Lane Tech,” Principal Dr. Dignam said.

Lane has made it to the World Championship for Robotics all three years that Lane has had a Robotics Team. Senior Andrew Fogelis, Div. 590, has been a member of the Robotics Team for two years. At the ribbon cutting ceremony the evening of Sept. 17, he was one of the students demonstrating all of the tricks that the robots can do.

“We added a few new teams and we are really excited to see what they can do,” Fogelis said. He is one of the mentors to the LTAC Robotics Team. Lane will host its own robotics competition, and the new practice arena makes that possible.

The new dance studio was packed with Lane students doing Zumba while parents and teachers watched Mrs. Hanly cut the ribbon with giant red scissors. The new classroom, equipped with Olympic-grade spring floorboards, can now be used by staff and students alike. Starting in November there will be an after school program, and the space is constantly being booked for I-Days clubs. As the procession of students, teachers, parents, and community members continued along the main hall between O and H, they stopped to look at the Aquaponics lab.

“We just received a permit to sell our fish to local restaurants, so one day you could be eating a Lane Tech Aquaponics Lab fish,” Dignam said. Senior Emily Eul, Div. 567, spends every day in the Aquaponics Lab, which was first opened last year. She hopes to work in the field of horticulture one day, and taking Aquaponics helped her come to this realization. The lab is also open for LTAC and they even have their own aquaponics class and club.

“Want to see my head?” Suraj Kumar, Div 579, said.  Kumar was one of the first students inside the door ready to show off the new Innovation and Creation Lab, run by Mr. Solin. He displayed a small bust of his head that was made on the 3-D printer.

In the room’s upstairs balcony he showed monitors where he and fellow students had taken a series of images that created the blueprint for the head.

Alongside large monitors are four other 3-D printers. Under the balcony there is a small, separate room with wood carving machines. These machines can create almost anything. Classes are currently making wooden boxes.

The next room visited was the new art studio. This room is complete with doors that open onto a patio space and a computer lab for photography students.

The tour continued to the guitar room. This room contains a recording studio and a full set of Macintosh computers for editing. Mr. Aura even designed the artwork painted on the walls.

The last room of the tour was the Art Gallery. The gallery is currently hosting teacher work and will be available for different art classes in the coming Assistant Principal Mrs. Hanly cuts a ribbon at the unveiling of the new dance room. months.

There are many more improvements on Dr. Dignam’s agenda for this year and this is just the beginning. He hopes to renovate the lunchroom next. Change is constant.

“The worst thing I can hear is when people come to visit Lane and they say ‘Wow this is exactly the same as when I was here, it hasn’t changed a bit,’” Dr. Dignam said.