By Erika Anderson

Staff Writer

ROSWELL-The learning lab at Queen of Angels School is a place that students enjoy. It is a colorful, welcoming room, filled with books and computers, and perhaps most important to the students, a candy jar that never goes empty.

On the wall a bulletin board reads "The more you know, the more you can create." Learning lab teachers Cindy Sabula and Cathy Anderson believe strongly in the power of knowledge for all their students.

The learning lab at Queen of Angels School is a unique combination of enrichment for advanced students and remedial lessons for students who need help. Gone are the stereotypes of typical gifted or remedial "pull-out" programs in which students are separated from other students in their grade level.

"It can serve everyone in the whole school, no matter what end of the spectrum they are on," Sabula said.

Sister Patricia Clune, CSJ, principal of Queen of Angels, which was one of three new archdiocesan elementary schools to open its doors this year, said she wanted the learning lab to be a place where students wanted to come.

So far it is working.

Open before and after school, the learning lab is usually full of students. Sabula and Anderson eat their lunch in the classroom so students have access to the lab throughout the day.

Both Anderson, who has 14 years’ experience in special education, and Sabula, who has taught at the college level, work with all students, some needing extra help and others wanting an extra challenge.

"I think the students really don't see the difference between us," Anderson said. "If I'm busy and a student who's having trouble with something comes in for help, Cindy doesn't say, 'wait for Mrs. Anderson.' We just help them with whatever they are working on."

Students also can come in for any subject. A student that has trouble in math may come in for help but may need to be challenged in reading.

"It's open-ended," Sabula said. "We ask the teachers of the topics they are currently teaching which students have mastered and which students need extra help."

Though both Sabula and Anderson admit they were skeptical about how the concept of a combined learning lab would work, they are quick to express their excitement about its success.

"The idea is really that if they excel in one area and not the other, that's okay," Sabula said. "They're learning from each other. There's just not the stigma of the learning lab."

Sister Clune said that she attributes the success of the lab to Anderson and Sabula.

"It's a really wonderful rapport that those two teachers have with each other. They are really complimentary," she said. "Flexibility, creativity and give and take have been crucial and I'm really happy with the selection of those two."

The students are happy with their teachers as well.

Kevin Holmes, a fifth-grade student who excels in math, said that Sabula and Anderson are "really nice."

"If I didn't go (to the learning lab), I might be bored. It's more of a challenge," he said. "We get to do different things and it's really fun."

Stacy Wilkinson, also a fifth-grader who excels in math, said that his favorite thing about the learning lab, besides the candy and the teachers, is the challenging work he does there.

"It helps us because it's fun to say you're ahead, even though you wouldn't want to brag," he said. "Sometimes it's just fun to be ahead."

Katie Hall is a fourth-grade student who has difficulty in math. She goes to the learning lab every day.

"They're (Anderson and Sabula) always willing to help me. They don't do my work but they help me work through my problems. They've really helped me with my multiplication tables," she said. "It's nice because they like us and they say nice stuff about us and make us feel good."

Hall's mother, Beth, said that she has seen a change in her daughter since she has started going for extra help in the learning lab.

"It has given her a lot more confidence," she said. "She's excited to go to school."

Hall said that Katie "loves" going to the lab.

"There are no stigmas anymore," she said. "At her other school it was 'it's okay if you can't do it,' now it's 'you can do it.'"

Sister Clune said that Hall's opinion echoes many of the parents' feelings about the learning lab.

"A lot of parents are glad at both ends that their kids are not labeled," she said.

Many students, like Tori Lasiter, a fourth-grade student who goes to the learning lab every day to get help in math, also enjoy meeting students in other grades.

"It's quiet in there even with a lot of students," she said. "I get to meet a lot of new people."

"It's amazing how the eighth-graders really try to shine and become role models," Anderson said. "It's amazing how they mix. I think it's one of the things that makes Queen of Angels a family."

Sister Clune said that the learning lab is "everything I hoped it would be."

"It's a welcoming place and kids know that it's a place where they can go and get whatever kind of help they need," she said. "I just wanted it to be a place where everyone can go to learn something they didn't know."