Chamber of Commerce Calls NMHS Rebuild and Investment Based on Community Feedback ‘Spectacular’

By Jillian Daley

Members of the Woodburn Area Chamber of Commerce held the group’s Friday Greeters event last week at North Marion High School, and the visitors praised the school's new look. 

At Greeters events, Chamber members travel to businesses and organizations throughout the community to connect and to learn more about their neighbors. During their visit to the High School, they took a tour to check out the extensive upgrades that came about courtesy of a 2017 bond measure. 

One of the highlights of the NMHS tour included a visit to the Career Technical Education (CTE) wing, where students take classes on welding, woodshop, culinary arts, art, computer science, and robotics. 

North Marion Superintendent Ginger Redlinger said that North Marion took feedback from the community to shape the renovations. One of the requests from the community was to incorporate the CTE classes into the rest of the school, since having a detached building discouraged students from participation in CTE. It was unpleasant, emotionally and physically, having to walk “out there” to take the classes, Redlinger said.

“They literally had to walk out in the rain, so we figured out a way to connect the classrooms,” Redlinger explained, keeping students dry and uniting the whole school.

The guests were impressed with the thoughtful consideration of community feedback and the care taken to support and unite all students.

“I loved it,” Chamber Executive Director John Zobrist said of the tour and the whole experience. “I think the investment is spectacular, the investment from the community, with the work that you did. Asking the community what they wanted and working with the local business community to provide the skilled labor they’re actually looking for — that’s huge.”

Zobrist added that it wasn’t just the CTE wing, “but everything,” that impressed him.

“Everything that I heard and hoped I would see, I saw that and more,” he said. “Beautiful building, great construction, well-rounded, complete options including the path to skilled labor. This is huge for the community and huge for the students.”

Interested in a post-bond-upgrades tour of NMHS? Please reach out to info@nmarion.k12.or.us.

To share stories on the North Marion School District, email Communications Specialist Jillian Daley at jillian.daley@nmarion.k12.or.us