Northwoods Community Secondary School (NCSS) just moved into a wing of the Rhinelander High School campus. We had to move because keeping our old building open was going to cost too much money to maintain and update.

“I’m worried about it but excited about the new things we can do,” said NCSS student Jamie Halbman.

There have been a lot of changes, both good and bad, that we have had to make. We have to hear the RHS bell ring to tell everyone it’s time to change classes, even though we stay in the same room all day. Students who have classes at JWMS have to walk there. But kids who have a class at RHS just go when the bell rings.

NCSS used to have two recesses, but now NCSS students in grades 9 through 12 only get one. One good thing is the lunch. The new lunch service offers us more choices, including fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Another good thing is that we get to use the high school library, meaning that we won’t have to walk to the public library when we need a book. Another thing we like about the library at the RHS campus is being able to see Ms. Tooke, who used to be one of our advisors at NCSS. Now that she’s a district librarian, we can still see her when we go to the library. At our old school our stage was really small, and didn’t project sound as well. Now we can use the big stage at RHS.

If we help each other and work together, I think that this move will prove to be the start of a great relationship between teachers and students at RHS and NCSS. For example, if a student needs guidance and advice with a certain project, there are lots of experts available to help.

We are now a school within a school, and lots of things will be different, but some things will stay the same. We still start our school year and end it at CAVOC, and we still learn the same as we always did. We learn by doing, not watching, and we can do our math and projects at our own pace.

If the students and staff understand and accept that NCSS and RHS offer different types of learning, we’ll get along even better.