Lakeside Academy off the chopping block and open for another school year

It’s the first day of school at Lakeside Academy, and following the threat of closure last year, students, parents and teachers said they’re happy to be back.

The school is staying open after being on the Lester B. Pearson School Board‘s (LBPSB) chopping block last year.

“It really makes you look at your school as a whole and look at what can we change, what can we add, what can we remove,” said principal Kathleen O’Reilly.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It really makes you look at your school as a whole and look at what can we change, what can we add, what can we remove," said principal Kathleen O'Reilly.

In December, the board voted to close the school because of declining enrolment.

READ MORE: LBPSB votes to keep Lakeside Academy open

Parents, students and staff campaigned to keep it open.

“Lots of viable ideas came out, like the community learning centre, the new science concentration,” said Lester B. Pearson chair Suanne Stein Day.

“These were things that staff at this school were committed to working towards. That’s what makes the school really interesting.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "These were things that staff at this school were committed to working towards. That's what makes the school really interesting."

“In fact, we have attracted additional enrolment this year.”

READ MORE: After school-saving vote at LBPSB, the hard work begins for parents

About 452 students are enrolled at Lakeside Academy this year, an increase of about 20 student from the previous semester.

At the end of the last academic year, students weren’t sure if they would ever walk down the halls of the school again because of the pending closure.

READ MORE: Lakeside parents crowd auditorium in effort to save school

Heading back to school Wednesday was especially important to those starting their senior year.

“It’s awesome to graduate with the same people I came in with in Grade 7 and it’s been an amazing experience, one I’m never going to forget,” said student Konstantinos Koulouris.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's awesome to graduate with the same people I came in with in Grade 7 and it's been an amazing experience, one I'm never going to forget," said student Konstantinos Koulouris.

“I would be scared that I would be the one person in the yearbook that nobody knows,” said 16-year-old Miriam Fischer-Henrion.

“It’s different because it’s your last year, then you go to being an ‘adult.'”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's different because it's your last year, then you go to being an 'adult.'"

READ MORE: Race is on to save Lakeside Academy

Students starting their first day of high school are already looking forward to everything senior year has to offer.

Students said they plan to enjoy their time at Lakeside Academy before heading into the next step of their lives.