Whether it’s leading the girls soccer team to State, or approving new curriculum offerings, after 33 years of working at LT, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Scott Eggerding has left a profound impact on the LT community.

Eggerding, who retires at the end of this year, first started working at LT in 1992 as an English teacher. He taught American Studies and was later involved in developing the American Studies Prep program. 

“As an English teacher, I really enjoyed teaching American Studies,” Eggerding said. “It’s been really great to work with so many people. Being an English teacher, I knew all of the English teachers but didn’t know everyone else. I’ve gotten to meet so many more teachers and see the amazing things that teachers are doing in the classroom. [I’ve also gotten] to know all of the cool classes and opportunities that our students get.”

After Eggerding’s work as an English teacher, he served as the Language Arts Assistant Division Chair, continuing to develop courses and work with the teachers in the English Department. He played a key role in strengthening the English courses offered. 

“Along with the teachers, he was the person that developed the idea for Interpersonal Communications,” Language Arts Division Chair Karen Raino said. “The teachers are the ones that actually develop the curriculum, but he had a proposal for changing the way Language Arts was actually delivered. He changed the way things were done in terms of course offerings, and I think that’s one of the biggest changes he oversaw that had a real impact [in terms of Language Arts].” 

After five years as Language Arts Division Chair, Eggerding took his current, most notable, position as Curriculum Director, working with all departments. 

“He has an amazing, creative, brilliant mind, and he has really invested in my professional development,” Raino said. “But in the development of those whom I work with, too. I think what sets him apart is he is forward-thinking, always looking to implement best practices in terms of education, and he really cares about students and their experiences. Because of that, I think he is able to produce change in a really powerful way.”

As Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Eggerding runs a group called the Curriculum Staff Development Team. This team is made up of teachers and administrators who review all new courses and help to eventually get new courses started. 

“I make sure the proposal takes into account all the components that are needed to have a good course, and then I take that and present it to the [Board of Education],” Eggerding said. “Once it’s all approved, I then make sure it gets added to the Academic Program Guide and then help the teachers put together a summer workshop to build the course.”

When Eggerding started in this position, there were no dual credit classes; however, last year, LT had nearly 30 dual credit classes with over 3,000 dual credit enrollments.

“I think that LT is a really amazing place, and we offer more courses than any school I’ve ever seen or come across,” Eggerding said. “I hope we continue that and that we value the opportunities that we provide kids. Just so many different courses and different career pathways and ways for students to follow their interests and live up to vita plena and their quest for a fulfilling life.” 

Another significant change Eggerding made was the addition of Late Start Days every Wednesday and Professional Learning Community (PLC) days.

“[Getting the late start days approved] was more complicated than it really should have been,” Eggerding said. “For years, there was a belief that teachers didn’t really need the time, but so many schools had done PLC and late starts. At that time, we weren’t meeting frequently. [It then increased] to us meeting every other Wednesday, and then we were finally able to move it to every Wednesday.”

More recently, Eggerding has been crucial in the new implementation of e-learning days instead of a traditional snow day.

“I think the biggest complaint people have about e-learning is that we don’t have snow days,” Eggerding said. “But, then, every year, when we had to add days to the school year, people complained even more. On e-learning days, people aren’t doing the equivalent work of being in school. I think it helps keep the calendar pretty consistent and has allowed us to call more snow days because prior to that, we would have eight inches of snow, but we would still be in school because we weren’t going to call it off and extend days past graduation.”

Eggerding has gained another perspective of the LT community as his own children have graduated from the school.

“They give me good feedback on what’s happening, and their friends do too,” Eggerding said. “They’ll say, ‘hey, I was talking to my friend, and they had this thing happen,’ and then I hear about it. So that’s been good, just to get a sense of what’s going on from the student’s perspective. It’s been helpful.”

Throughout all of the years Eggerding has spent at LT, his character is one thing that continues to stand out.

“[Eggerding] spent many hours with me during my informal interview when I was hired, and he just really connects authentically with people on a human level,” Raino said. “He has an amazing mind and is unbelievably smart. He’s really interesting and knows all sorts of things about the world, and overall, he’s just a really good human being.”