ATIKOKAN – To look at the Northern Lakes K-12 school today, the first impressions are shocking. Mounds of steel and rubble blanket the front of the ground behind the safety of the construction fencing. Orange stucco sticks out where the new siding is incomplete. The front entrance has its frames in place but still waiting on walls and windows. However, don’t let any of that fool you. 80 per cent of the build is entirely new, and after two years of a global pandemic, supply shortages, and a contractors’ strike, the amount of hard work that has been put into the Northern Lake K-12 Public School shows with each passing day.
Toward the back parking lot, which will be used by students, teachers and staff, the bigger picture begins to unfold. The architecture is breathtaking. Gone are the sold pallets of bland siding. It is replaced with a pattern of warm gray and black tones and a modern design of interconnecting blocks of stone.
“We will have our grades 7 to 12 students returning to a Northern Lakes K-12 School,” said Heather Campbell, CEO of the Rainy River District School Board. “We are really happy to welcome back staff and students this fall. It will be a little bit of a transition because we have relocated our entrance to the back of the school as we work on some new demolition of the old building, but within a couple of weeks, we’ll be back to the front of the school and continuing with some construction with the hope of completing it something in early 2023.”
Northern Lakes may not be finished, but parents need not worry about their children’s safety at the start of the new school year. The Rainy River District School Board and their team have planned out how students can have a safe learning environment while the school is still under construction.
“We have been fortunate. We are thankful to the contractor who has worked tirelessly, even though, there have been challenges with the supply and demand of equipment and building materials,” said Campbell. “I think last June when students were graduating from Atikokan High School, the public got a chance to see firsthand some of the finished within the new wing.”
Students will enter the school from the back parking lot. Once inside they will find themselves in a freshly painted hallway line with brand new lockers. And these lockers aren’t small either. They will be able to fit everything, especially their winter clothes.
The classrooms are well equipped with the smartest tech. From the smartboard at the front of each room to the energy-efficient LED lights that turn on automatically once they sense movement within the room.
Designed in collaboration with the student council, the gender-neutral washroom has an interesting set-up. Each of the eight washrooms has a single toilet with a lockable door. The space fits only one person. Therefore, there is no room for those motley crews to hide during science class.
“The new enhancements with the gender-neutral bathroom in the secondary wing is integrated with accessible bathroom which speaks to bring together a K-12 community and opening it up for all students to enjoy school,” Campbell remarks.
Beyond the gender-neutral washrooms is where the elementary classrooms are located coat hangers and cubbies are neatly positioned for all of their outdoor wear. This section of the school is still under construction but to see the progress that has been made is outstanding. At the end of the hallways are the front door and the administration wing, but with a slight turn to the left, the elementary class stretch toward Grayson Hall, the school’s larger gymnasium.
Grayson Hall is getting brand new flooring and bleachers for the students to scuff up during their many athletic and school spirit events.
“We still have Grayson Hall which affords us a very large gym that can be split into two,” said Campbell. “We are just finishing off the Natural Resource Technology room, the library has some more work to do, but our intergraded technology classroom is ready to go. There are just some other small finishes to go inside the classrooms such as installing smartboards and phonic ear systems.”
The smaller gymnasium is located in the old technology wing. Once a cafeteria and shop area, the room has had extensive upgrades. To ensure that there was enough room for competitions, the ceiling was raised 10 feet. A music room, complete with a stage looks out onto the smaller gym allowing for performances. Once completed, the music room will have a soundproof divider so the music class can use the space while a gym class is in session.
The blending of the old appendages with a fresh redesign will grant the student the comforts of 21st-century learning. Reading, writing, and math have always been a part of the classroom, but advancements in teaching have changed exponentially.
“We’ve always been working towards that and enhancing the technology we provide throughout all our school,” explains Campbell. “But (Northern Lakes) has an integrated technology classroom, we’ve continued with something that Atikokan is known for and that is Natural Resources.”
To keep the uniqueness of the older school, Northern Lakes decided to keep the greenhouse which was attached to the natural resource classroom. However, the design allowed for an upgraded house for students to continue to develop their agricultural skills.
“The outer facility is still intact because it is right behind this new school. So, a lot of things from the past are carried forward,” said Campbell.
In the end, there are still some areas that need to be finished off like landscaping and demolishing of part of the building, for the start of school, the RRDSB is confident that everything is accessible for students come the new school year.
“So, we have something to finish up and we are looking at early 2023 to be finished,” said Campbell. “But we are looking at moving everyone, a K-12 Northern Lakes school for the fall of 2023.”
