In commemoration of FIFTY YEARS of volunteer service to our school community, Saint James School has dedicated our new STREAM Innovation Lab in honor of Mrs. Carol O’Neill.  The dedication was formally announced along with the unveiling of the STREAM Innovation Lab at our Centennial Open House event this past Sunday.  While Mrs. O’Neill was not able to be with us on Sunday, her eldest son (pictured below with Mrs. Zorger) was with us to accept the award on her behalf.

Quietly working behind the scenes for many years in support of our school, Mrs. O’Neill has volunteered in a multitude of capacities at SJS since her children started school here in the early 1970s.  Most recently, Mrs. O’Neill has volunteered her time and talent in the main office as our school’s bookkeeper.

Dan O’Neill shared the following with respect to the dedication, “I find it particularly appropriate that the technology center is named for her, as she has been riding the technology wave since it started.  As a college graduate she was part of a crew programming room sized computers at Pratt & Whitney.  When she started keeping books, they were actually books!  Big hardbound books with lots of pages, and lots of handwritten lines and numbers.  I’ve seen her use every kind of calculator that has come along.  And now she is adept with personal computers and accounting software.  It’s a pretty amazing testimony to her abilities, but more importantly, to how much Saint James School means to her.  She loves being here in the mix with everybody and especially seeing all the kids.”

The new Innovation Lab will continue to enhance students’ exposure to STREAM concepts, and includes new  laser cutter technology from Glowforge (see examples below) as well as new robotics/coding kits for the older students.  Three-dimensional design software and 3D printing as well as coding, engineering challenges, web design, and learning the Google suite of programs (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc.) will continue to be part of students’ weekly STREAM curriculum at an age-appropriate level.

As a reminder, STREAM is the concept of Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Art, and Math being used together to solve complex problems.  The Innovation Lab was made possible through the generosity of our 2021 Annual Fund Campaign donors.