Students back in class at Willow Creek Composite High School

By Rob Vogt

Willow Creek Composite High School was a busy place last week, as students returned to classes on Sept. 2.
“There’s lots of things happening,” said Principal Robert Rodgers.
Enrollment has remained steady at 366 students, just as projected.
The school has also welcomed five new teachers.
Ella Maleszewski is teaching physical education and is the school’s new athletic director.
Kaitlyn Bowman, who is also a red seal chef, will be teaching the foods program.
Mackenzie Martin will be teaching high school English, while Meike Wege will teach high school science.
Finally, Erin Stafford will be teaching Grade 7 math and science.
“We are so pleased with the teachers we were able to hire in the spring,” Rodgers said.
He is also keen on the school’s new student support centre, supervised by teacher Kathryn Rhind.
The student support centre runs Monday to Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
It supports students who are unable to meet with standard classes. Operating like an outreach school, it provides a place fort students who may not be able to make it to class.
The centre also supports students with hybrid, virtual classes, provides elective courses offered outside the classroom, such as psychology.
New this year, the school is offering drama class in both junior and senior high. Merry Franz will be teaching high school drama, while Alex Yanko will be teaching junior high drama.
Every year, the school has a club rush week, where students are able to sign up, or even start clubs. That happens at the end of September or early into October.
The school also offers a number of sports.
The football team had their first game Friday, a win over Brooks.
Volleyball is back, with the re-emergence of junior and senior varsity high school boys’ teams, to go with the highly successful girls’ program.
The girls’ team will be hosting their home tournament this Friday and Saturday.
There will also be junior high girls’ and boys’ teams this year. The boys are back after a few years with no team as well.
Cross-country running and golf round out the sports calendar at the start of school.
Rodgers noted with all of this activity going on, they are still focused on continuous school improvement.
Using a quarterly inquiry model, they are focusing on three goals for the year – academics; the school’s connection with families and the community; and building staff-student relationships.