Back
At LDG, our culture encourages our people to make value-driven decisions for their clients, their communities, and themselves. Notes From the Road is a closer look at the learning opportunities and experiences of our employee owners from industry events, client engagements, and projects around the world.
We spoke with two members of LDG’s architecture team – Angie Clarkson, Education Planner, and Jeff Wegener, Senior Practice Manager – about attending the 2023 Education Leadership Conference, hosted annually by the Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA) and the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration (CCOSA).
Why is this conference so beneficial to attend?
Jeff: We have been attending this conference for nearly 25 years because it’s one of the premier events for school board members and superintendents from across the state. It’s a valuable opportunity for us to connect with those professionals and with current and past clients. We also gather information on potential new work and participate in continuing education workshops offered at the conference, and Angie led two of them this year, titled Trends in School Design and How Can Schools Be Designed to Keep Kids Safer?
RELATED: Read more here about how LDG creates forward-thinking education spaces for schools
Tell us about the workshops that LDG led this year.
Angie: As we’ve gone back to “school as normal” after the COVID-19 pandemic, communities are realizing it’s essential that we take a holistic view of our kids’ development – looking at emotional and psychological health and not just academic performance. The workshops I led explored trends in school design and related improvements in safety that offer more emphasis on this holistic health approach, which are crucial for children but don’t always get the same level of attention as something like electronic access controls and security cameras.
We’ve known for decades that our physical environment plays a huge role in how we grow, develop, and react to daily stresses. The wrong kind of space negatively affects us. In the same way, the right kind of space does us a lot of good. For our team, we really take this to heart – when planning and designing spaces for learning and for living, we look for ways to empower teachers and kids to do their best work. Security measures shouldn’t fight against effective learning. In the same way, lively, kid-centered environments should enhance supervision and security strategies.
About Us
Founded in 1986, LDG is an award-winning, 100 percent employee-owned national architecture, engineering, and consulting firm with 17 offices in seven states and a vision to elevate client relationships, enrich the careers and lives of its employee-owners, and enhance the communities in which it operates.
For more than 30 years, we have been teaming with clients nationwide to provide responsive, innovative solutions by offering an extraordinary depth and breadth of capabilities and embracing sustainable business practices. For more information, visit About – Larson Design Group.