What can I say, I may be Bishop High’s Advancement Director by job title, but I am a “closet biologist” at heart.  You may wonder how something like that could be.  I have to wonder how something like the “biologist” part, did not get “to be”.  It truly matters to me that our Science Wing is renovated.

I was someone who spent every day, e-v-e-r-y day after school dissecting frog hearts and anything else I could get my hands on, under a microscope.  As a girl in the early 1960's, my fascination was pretty much ignored.  My science teachers humored me and offered full access to every test tube, scalpel and microscope in the place, no guidance though.

When I first saw Bishop’s science lab, I stopped hearing what people were saying to me and I went looking for the microscopes. I wanted one of the swivel lab stools for my desk in the Advancement office. I would rather have a well stocked test tube rack and microscope on my desk, than anything else short of a 36 foot sailboat!

I really want Bishop to have the kind of Science wing that students like I was, can find a home in.  To love science you have to play with it: touch the cool lab counters and light the burners and put on the goggles and start measuring colored powders.  Bishop High has the two teachers who would spot the girl in the back (who would rather stay in for lunch to complete a project) and the fellow on the side (who is so absorbed in his microscope that he does not hear the call to clean–up). They would make sure their interests were explored and their aspirations were pursued.

Students these days are all about the bells and whistles of technology and making connections, and 21^st century skills that call for problem solving and innovation and the ability to manipulate ideas and data with computers and unprecedented technology applications.

I encourage every person to make a donation to the renovation of the Science Wing.  Even if it is not your child that finds a passion for a career juggling test tubes, be very glad that surely someone else’s child will. They will cure our pains in old age, and power our cars with a new respect for our environment.  They will have to meet head on all the issues that impair our planet and cause our spirits to dim.

Bishop High is all about student potential.  We are a small school with large accomplishments. In keeping with our mission statement and mandate to prepare students for the 21^st century, it is vital that we renovate our 50 year old Science Wing. To date we have secured donations and pledges of over $50,000.  While this project can be conducted in stages, the completed project will cost one million dollars.  

The wing itself has been maintained and remains sound and sustainable. The expanded demand for utilities to accommodate technology and current lab experiments requires a system overhaul.

Current day layouts for lab stations (cabinetry) provide expanded storage and work surface to accommodate lap top computers and the types of Science experimentation that did exist 50 or even 20 years ago.

With two highly skilled Science teachers, each with a doctorate degree, current facilities need to support the anticipated needs of an increasingly elevated science curriculum. Our teachers can prepare students to succeed in college science coursework and our students can explore the potential of an engaging science career option. The potential for even greater student success is here.  

The outcome of your generosity will be that our science program will be competitive now and for the next generation of science students and teachers. It will provide the format for science teachers to upgrade student skills such that expanded coursework will be possible and students will be better prepared for entry into scientific competitions and college level coursework and careers they may fall in love with.  

Please give, generously.

Linda Baron
Director of Advancement
967-1266 ext. 119