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The unassuming brick front building in the Chisago City Business Park, where Wolf Creek Online School is located, has been home to hundreds of charter school enrollees since 2008 who were able to pursue an education even as traditional options failed.  This Wolf Creek facility has 250 enrolled currently and most are full time attendees.  There are approximately (see photo right) 18 staff members, (a vacancy for a special education professional exists now.)

Office spaces are set up off hallways to the right and to the left of the entry for meeting with students, for class lessons on-line, and for teachers to have a base of operations.  Large rooms are set aside when groups might come in to do coursework.

The central area of the building is designed to be a commons— with a fireplace and comfy furniture. School Director, Mike Hamernick, says it was a nod to college campus spaces which offer deliberate environments in which to either be share ideas or just hunker down and study.  

The Wolf Creek virtual school program accepts students up to 21-22 years of age and instruction begins at grade nine.  

Wolf Creek alumni have a wide range of backgrounds but they all have one thing in common — the need for schooling flexibility.  

The charter school enrolls students responsible for young siblings, some are involved in family breadwinner roles, some have fallen into academic holes in regular school and Wolf Creek provided a way up and out.  A number of students will bring fulltime careers already underway when they find Wolf Creek, and realize they can still earn their high school diploma.

The beauty of Wolf Creek, and actually, of all virtual education, is that learning happens where the learner is at.

Staff are on-campus in Chisago City Tuesday and Thursday.  Each student will operate under an individual schedule and expectations, some will need to see instructors in person and others not so much.  The school also has counseling options for enrollees who need personal direction.

Wolf Creek Director  Hamernick was on-hand to give tours of the facility for “National Online Learning Day” celebrated September 15.    Wolf Creek also had another reason to throw open its doors.  The school has achieved 25 years in Chisago City in total and was one of Minnesota’s first in the 1990s..  Chisago Lakes School District started out as the authorizing body for Wolf Creek until recently when the district backed away from the relationship, which Hamernick said is happening regularly.  There are more and more professional third party authorizers stepping up. Wolf Creek now has a relationship with ISQ.

Chisago Lakes district office now provides contracted business services only, like payroll, that Wolf Creek  contracts for. There is a relatively new group that has come together to be a non-profit behind the school, The Friends of Wolf Creek, which also owns the building in Chisago City.

Hamernick was eager to unveil the new school identity for 2027, cleaning up text shortened to just Wolf Creek Online. It replaces the reference to “Trio” which harkens back to when Rush City/North Branch/ Chisago were involved equally. 

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