LCS Timeline
Remember making timelines as a student at Lake Country? Here is one just for you to help rekindle those memories...
This is a work in progress. If you think we've made an error or should add something else to the timeline, please contact Mary Vrabel.
To read a narrative history of the school, click here.
| 1975-76 | • Larry and Pat Schaefer move to Minneapolis to work at the St. Paul Montessori school sponsored by the Montessori foundation at the invitation of Larry O’Shaughnessy |
| 1976-77 |
• Lake Country School is established, incorporated and opens at the Basilica |
| 1977-78 | • Janet Williams’ E1 classroom is established • Larry Dittberner starts in January • The performance is The Prince and the Pauper • 110 children enrolled |
| 1978-79 | • First class graduates from 6th grade • Lois St. Mane and Patricia Bachmeier join the staff • First auction chaired by John and Betty Heefner • The performance is Persephone |
| 1979-80 | • Kathy Coskran and Sarah Endsley open second Children's House classroom • Millie Dosh establishes the Research Center • Madame Fisk starts teaching French • A building search committee is formed • LCS moves to Cleary Hall on 38th St. and Pleasant Ave. on July 12, 1980 |
| 1980-81 | • LCS opens in Cleary Hall with 210 enrolled • Cafeteria is shared with Incarnation School • Beloved teacher Janet Williams dies • First year elementary students go to “Widji” |
| 1981-82 | • Lois St. Mane changes her name to Zoe • Jean Melom joins Children's House |
| 1982-83 | • Junior High opens in the Incarnation Building • First Junior High Odyssey to Campsville, Illinois • First Junior High bike trip • Junior High play is You Can’t Take it with You • First ISACS accreditation self-study • Research center is remodeled • 225 students enrolled |
| 1983-84 | • First Junior High Odyssey east to historic Williamsburg • Third Children's House classroom added • First year of Extended Day • Doug Alecci joins the Junior High • Junior High perform Feast of Ortolons • LCS is accredited by ISACS |
| 1984-85 | • First Odyssey West to Crow Canyon • Junior High play is A Midsummer’s Night Dream |
| 1985-86 | • First capital campaign planned to buy Cleary Hall, renovate Children's House and build the gym and Junior High • Jill Olsen and Mindy Holte join the staff • Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story are the performances |
| 1986-87 | • Ann Luce joins staff • LCS purchases Cleary Hall • Children “hug the building” during the spiral dance |
| 1987-88 | • Children's House moves into newly remodeled classrooms • Steve Anthony joins the Junior High • Twins win the pennant and Children's House writes Let’s Go Out to the Ballgame |
| 1988-89 | • First observance of Wisdom Day • Building of gym and Junior High completed • Back lot purchased from U.S. West • Paulette Zoë, Peggy McKenna and Kathy Gustafson join staff |
| 1989-90 | • First Future’s Day Celebration—trees planted • First exchange with Moscow School #31 • LCS cosponsors National Montessori conference on the Humanities |
| 1990-91 | • Second ISACS evaluation |
| 1991-92 | • First all-school recitation of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech • Twins win World Series |
| 1992-93 | • Jane Goodell visits LCS |
| 1993-94 | • Roots and Shoots environmental club is established • Larry Schaefer hosts Adolescent Conference in St. Paul |
| 1994-95 | • First Amity scholar, Paul Alain arrives from Cameroon • Field of Dreams is auction theme to raise money for playground equipment • Pat and Larry Schaefer announce their retirement as co-principals |
| 1995-96 | • Kathy Coskran begins as Associate Principal • Board approves purchase of the Land School • Playground is renovated • First Winter Count alum gatherings • LCS staff create quilt portraying the first twenty years of the school in a spiral of block prints • 301 students enrolled |
| 1996-97 | • Kathy Coskran becomes new Head of School • “Great Gatherings” auction tradition established • First Land School harvest • E2 performs The Odyssey • First exchange with Swedish students • Steve and Mimi Fisher present the sculpture “Montessori’s Vision” to LCS in honor of their daughter and alumna Carly |
| 1997-98 | • Junior High performs The Life of Insects • First “Sex and Pizza” discussion with E2 parents and students • Pat Schaefer’s class writes award-winning symphony • Astronaut Sally Ride visits LCS |
| 1998-99 |
• LCS launches For the Children, its second capital campaign, to renovate the |
| 1999-2000 | • Elementary students return to newly renovated classrooms • Planning begins for construction at the Land School • LCS buys the property next door on Pleasant Ave. • Junior High plants 6,000 trees at the Land School |
| 2000-01 | • 25th Anniversary Year • Endowment established with $226,000 on gifts and $408,000 in pledges |
| 2001-02 | • Land School committee hosts charette to involve community in designing lodge • Larry Dittberner’s 25th year at LCS |
| 2002-03 | • Council of Children established and writes school pledge • LCS breaks ground on the O’Shaughnessy Homestead at the Land School |
| 2003-04 | • LCS dedicated as a peace site • O’Shaughnessy Homestead at the Land School dedicated • Kathy Coskran retires as Principal |
| 2004-05 | • Paulette Zoë begins as new Principal • First Junior High residency at the Land School • First year of the 9th grade with one 9th grade student • First Odyssey South to Mississippi with focus on Civil Rights and marine biology • Class H works with Mike Hazard, a.k.a. Media Mike, to produce The Magic Green School Bus, a documentary about the life of Paul Wellstone • LCS receives $500,000 endowment gift from the Drake-McLaughlin alum family |
| 2005-06 | • 30th Year of Lake Country School • Junior High play is Much Ado About Nothing and is performed with two casts |
| 2006-07 | • Montessori Centenary: Maria Montessori opened the first Casa di Bambini in Janurary of 1907 • Junior High play is Oklahoma! • Junior High has four 9th graders |
| 2007-08 | • In an LCS first, Aaron Lockridge begins his teaching career in Children's House 2 alongside his former Children's House teacher, Sarah Endsley • LCS participates in 100 Steps for Montessori, a global event to celebrate the Montessori Centenary • E2 play is Trickster Tales • Junior High play is Midsummer’s Night Dream • Auction theme is The Prom-Moonlight in Paradise and is chaired for the first time by an LCS alum, Dan Johnson, with wife Tanya and Nancy Warner |
| 2008-09 | • Katie Mullin becomes the first child of an LCS alum to graduate from the Junior High • Zoe St. Mane announces her retirement, to be phased in over a period of two years • Junior High play is Wizard of Oz; Children's House 2 is so captivated by this performance that they produce their own version of it |
| 2009-10 | • A 15-day Farm Stay is initiated allowing Junior High students to live at the Land School while focusing on the work of the farm, microeconomy, and occupations. • E2 collaborates to write, produce, and perform A Sea of Stories as their level play. • A special classroom observation and luncheon is held at the urban campus for Friends of the Future Circle members. • The JH play is As You Like It. • Through a camera placed in its den, Children's House 2 follows the birth and first months of life of Hope the bear. Their interest in bears culminates in a classroom performance of Little Black Bear Goes For A Walk. • Remodeling at the Land School homestead greatly increases the number of sleeping areas, allowing for full elementary class overnight stays. On one such visit, Class C plants over 1000 corn and pumpkin plants! • Eleven Junior High students participate in a thirteen-day educational and cultural exchange with El Colegio Montessori de Tepoztlán, our sister school in Cuernavaca, Mexico. |
| 2010-11 | • 35th anniversary year of Lake Country School! • Larry and Pat Schaefer begin work on a memoir of the founding years of the school. • The 9th grade has 5 students, and 15 LCS alums have their children at the school. • Jean Melom is in her 30th year of teaching. • Year one of Lake Country's fifth ISACS 7-year accreditation cycle. |