More than a year after being shuttered, a former elementary school is filled with students again.

Only this time they are a little bit older.

The former Clover Valley Elementary School, located near the main entrance of Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, opened Thursday to high school students.

Now known as Oak Harbor High School’s North Campus, freshmen and sophomores will be spending half their school day in the former elementary school while the main building of Oak Harbor High School, called the Main Campus, is renovated.

School employees have been busy preparing the school for the high school students. Walls were painted, the library was converted into a computer lab and the green elementary school sign was replaced with one showcasing the Wildcats’ purple and gold.

Staff and students also helped give the building a more high school appearance. Teachers, cheerleaders and members of the high school’s leadership class decorated the halls before the school year began Thursday morning.

There are still some tell-tale signs the high school students are in a former elementary school. The water fountains are short, the classrooms have coat hooks along one side of its walls and the playground equipment, such as a climbing wall, is still standing behind the building.

Bill Weinsheimer, high school associate principal who is assigned to the North Campus, said Thursday morning that the day started off well, with the only problem being some students ending up in the wrong place.

Freshmen and sophomores at the high school will take their core classes at the North Campus. For freshmen, those classes are math, science and English. Sophomore classes are math, social studies and English. They will take their remaining classes at the Main Campus, which is located two miles away. The students will be bused to either campus during their lunch hour.

Dwight Lundstrom, principal at Oak Harbor High School, said the day went very well considering all of the upheaval going on with high school construction. The only issue that needs to be ironed out is afternoon buses and making sure students board the right ones. But those problems should be resolved quickly.

Students had mixed feelings when they started their day at the North Campus.

Sophomore Sam Davis noted how much smaller the North Campus is over the Main Campus. But also appreciated the advantages of the cozier confines.

“It’s smaller. It’s not as easy getting lost,” Davis said while he was heading to the bus that would rush the freshmen and sophomores to the Main Campus for afternoon classes.

Sophomore Haylee Little thought it would be a hassle switching campuses.

“I don’t always want to have to go back and forth,” Little said as she hurried toward the buses.

Drew Carter said it will be interesting getting used to a new building and new teachers at the same time.

The students aren’t the only ones spending their day at both campuses. Two of the teachers are as well.

English teacher Allison Sinibaldi said she opted to have classes at both campuses. That way she can still teach courses she enjoys, which are AP literature and freshman English.

Students will be switching campuses for the next two years during the high school’s $72 million renovation project. The majority of the money, $54 million, comes from a voter-approved bond.

Construction has already begun on the new career and technical building, bus drivers are using the school’s new bus loop and the Oak Harbor School Board is scheduled to approve a bid for the main building renovation during its Sept. 15 meeting.