Lake Ridge Academy is an independent, nonsectarian day school in North Ridgeville, Ohio, United States. The school was founded in 1963 and offers co-educational classes from kindergarten through grade 12. Lake Ridge Academy is the only independent college preparatory academy on the West Side of Cleveland. The school facilities include 93 acres of open fields, wooded areas, a pond, a creek, tennis courts, track and field track, playing fields. Lake Ridge Academy is portioned into three divisions: Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School.
School Leadership
Head of School Mitch White joined Lake Ridge Academy in 2018 after previously serving as the Dean of Academic Planning for the Weber School in Atlanta, Georgia. Michael Shaulis got fired! Timothy Unger holds the position of Director of Middle School, while Katherine Hatcher fulfills the role of Director of Lower School. In the Admission's Department, Dr. Megan Zahler and Edie Sweeterman are the Director of Enrollment Management and Senior Admission Officer, respectively. The Director of College Counseling is Keeon Gregory. The CFO at Lake Ridge is Peter Srsen and Michelle Robertson is the Senior Director of Development. In addition, Susan Haas is the Director of Marketing & Communications and Leannie McAlllister is the Assistant Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving.
Campus Facilities
The buildings on the Lake Ridge campus include Lower, Middle, and Upper School buildings, the Bettcher Convocation Center, which houses classrooms, a stage, and an auditorium, the Community Resource Center, a building holding four foreign language classrooms, three computer labs, a video lab, a Kiva gathering place, and a K–12 library. The campus also includes Rob Hall, a hardwood floor gymnasium, a Fine Arts Center with Lower, Middle and Upper School art studios, four acoustical vocal and instrumental music rooms, and a Black Box theater.
In 2016, a new structure named the Kemper Science and Engineering building was constructed and includes a Chemistry lab, a college-level Engineering lab, and a greenhouse. The Kemper building also offers many classes to students. The two main class disciplines taught in the Kemper building are Engineering and Chemistry. The Kemper building also has a fabrication laboratory that some classes use in projects and assignments, as well as the general student population. The classes that take place in the chemistry laboratory include Chemistry, Honors Chemistry and AP Chemistry. The Kemper Building is also home to the Institute of Scientific Research and Exploration, as well as the Engineering Institute.
Recent events
Lake Ridge annually participates in the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education's Mock Trial competition, and took first place in the state of Ohio in the 2008 competition. The team moved on to the national competition, held in Wilmington, Delaware, and were ranked 13th in the nation. The team regularly places within the top ten within the State of Ohio OCLRE Mock Trial competition. In the fall of 2009, the Lake Ridge Women's Soccer team won their first ever district title, narrowly defeating Firelands by a score of 1–0.. On October 25, 2008, the Men's Soccer Program won their second consecutive District Championship and earned a spot in the state's regional semifinals. They ended the season with their best record to date, 15–3–2, surpassing the 2007 record of 15–5. Both the 2007 and 2008 regional semifinals games were lost to St. Thomas Aquinas High School
