Colorful work going on in design studio

Lake Shore’s Design Studio is tucked away in the back hallway between the art rooms and the history classes. It’s painted vibrant colors and always has at least two kids working intently in the back regardless of the time of day.

It’s the home of Lake Shore’s robotics team, as well as the classroom students peer into before considering adding a design elective to their schedule next semester. These students, led by Melissa Todaro, participate in an essential part of the Lake Shore high school experience, and get to learn lifelong technical skills this semester back in the classroom.

The room is home to many of Lake Shore’s design electives including Interior Design, Mechanical Engineering, and Architectural Design . These classes are led by Todaro, and she works to help them gain technical skills like scaling, blueprint reading, mechatronics, 3D printing, and CAD.

The average class size is pretty small, usually 15 kids per class. It allows Todaro to get a real hands-on-approach to these particular student’s educations, and tailor her advice to the tasks of each student’s own project. The students are given a certain degree of autonomy in the design studio, in the past they’ve built class projects, robotics projects, the occasional pep rally prop and stage production scenery. By giving them everything they need, Todaro fosters a real environment of learning in her classroom.

For students with an interest in creatively solving problems, and an aptitude for working with their hands, the class is an engaging and educational experience. The class has hard work planned for the rest of the semester, so expect to hear more from the students working in Lake Shore’s design studio.