By Kevin Shannahan
It was indeed a great night to “Be a Demon!” at the NSU Middle Lab School as they held their open house Tuesday, August 6. There was not a parking space to be had anywhere near the school as students and their families came to meet their teachers, register for classes and learn about life at the school.
Principal Ben LaGrone greeted the children and their families and welcomed them to the upcoming school year. NSU Middle Lab has approximately 180 students in grades 6 through 8. The Middle Lab earned an “A” rating from the State Education Department last year and is also a National Blue Ribbon School. There is a three year art curriculum that gives students who choose to complete it high school credit. An agreement with NSU’s Computer Information Science department brings top students from their program into the Middle Lab to teach coding and other computer related skills. The school boasts an award winning orchestra with 68 young musicians under the direction of Katrice Lacour.
There are also a number of extra-curricular opportunities to stretch young minds. Students may choose from 4-H, Beta and Mathcounts to name a few.
The NSU Middle Lab School offers tremendous opportunities to the students it serves. The Natchitoches Parish Journal wishes the young Demons every success in the upcoming year and is looking forward to seeing the fruits of their hard work.
NSU’s Elementary Lab and Middle Lab are, hands down, the best schools in an otherwise underperforming school system. Now if the powers that be would just open their eyes and get to work creating an NSU High School Lab…
Unfortunately this year the school has chosen to not teach Algebra I for HS credit in 8th grade. Not sure what the honors/GT math students will do in 9th grade when the normal course has been to take Geometry. We are very disappointed with this decision, especially since it was announced just days before the start of school with no clear explanation.