Academic Enrichment

Honoring Childhood while Developing Gifts and Talents

At Lakewood Catholic Academy, we take a holistic approach to academic enrichment.  Academically talented students are identified using multiple measures, including Cognitive Abilities Testing, MAP Testing, and observational data. Enrichment programming has been a priority at Lakewood Catholic Academy since its inception, and many of our Alumni Ambassadors as well as our National Merit Scholars participated in one or more of our enrichment programs.  Enrichment programming includes group pull out, curricular extensions, competitions, and academic and artistic clubs.

Learning Lab

Our Learning Lab was first developed in 2009 and was designed to prioritize hands on, cross curricular learning.  Small groups of students frequently meet in the Learning Lab to explore, design, create, and analyze.  

Humanities

Our leveled Guided Reading program in the primary years as well as our Humanities Enrichment programming in 5th and 6th grade are designed to challenge students who exhibit outstanding talent in humanities subjects.  Humanities enrichment includes discussion groups, advanced reading assignments, and participation in competitions such as Scholastic Arts and Writing.

Mathematics

Talented mathematicians are served through small group enrichment, participation in math competitions, classroom differentiation, and opportunities to complete honors high school math courses while at Lakewood Catholic Academy.

Classroom Partnerships

As LCA evolved as an IB World School, we identified hands on, cross curricular, project based learning as growth goals.  Projects formerly housed in Learning Lab have gradually become available to our entire school community. Cross curricular, high level content is offered to our most academically advanced students during project based units. These advancement opportunities are facilitated through partnerships between the enrichment team and classroom teachers.

Clubs that serve academically and artistically talented and interested students 

  • Academic Challenge
  • Junior Model United Nations Program
  • Entrepreneurship Program
  • Stock Market Club
  • Battle of the Books
  • Eager Engineers
  • Speech and Debate Club
  • Saints Theater Society
  • Art Club
  • Singing Saints

Enrichment Team

Lakewood Catholic Academy’s Enrichment Team members are excited to once again work together.  They developed LCA’s enrichment programming over a decade ago, and are excited to foster its evolution as we mark LCA’s 15th Anniversary.

Eileen Murphy McGuire

Mrs. McGuire oversees enrichment programming and is the Dean of our International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program as well as LCA’s junior high honors math instructor.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Mathematics Education and a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics.  Mrs. McGuire works with advanced students in a variety of ways, including fostering math talent and differentiating project based units.  Mrs. McGuire also coordinates and coaches math competition teams, preparing them to participate in the Greater Cleveland Council of Teachers of Mathematics Problem Solving Tournament, The Ohio Math League Contest, and The Saint Ignatius Math Competition Series.  Lakewood Catholic Academy’s Spark Education Conference honors two teachers per year with the Eileen Murphy McGuire Spark teaching award for creativity and innovation.

Kathy O’Toole

Miss O’Toole is a former classroom teacher and serves as our primary years enrichment specialist.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Education.  Miss O’Toole coordinates enrichment opportunities for students in second and third grade.  Through Miss O’Toole’s partnership with elementary teachers, differentiation is fostered in classrooms as well as in LCA’s Learning Lab.  Miss O’Toole was awarded the Pro Allis Award in 2020 for her dedication and service to the students of Lakewood Catholic Academy.

Maria Ramella

Mrs. Ramella is a former classroom teacher and administrator. She has taught biology, chemistry, and physics at Chicago Public Schools, Magnificat, and St. Martin de Porres. Additionally, she has served as an instructional coach for mathematics teachers across various schools while working at Ideastream Public Media. She holds a Master of Science in Secondary Education and a Master of Science in Education Policy, along with a Bachelor of Science in International Health. Mrs. Ramella coordinates enrichment activities for fourth-grade students.