Neighborhood and School info for St. cloud and Sauk Rapids. (Sartell: houses, neighborhoods)

[macwild]

Our family is moving to the St. Cloud/Sauk Rapids area in August and I would like to find out more about the areas we are looking to move.
We've decided to send our kids to Sauk Rapids high School and are thinking of living in Sauk Rapids or close to it.
It has proven difficult to get information about the school and about the neighborhoods.
So I thought who better to ask then people who live there!

For the school we'd just like to know a couple things;
1. Is it safe
2. Will our children get a good education
3. Are there activities for students who are not into sports.

For the areas we are looking to live, we've narrowed it down to 3 different areas/houses.
We want to live somewhere within walking/biking distance to grocery stores, the library, and downtown. And most importantly, someplace safe.

The ares we are looking at are;
1. near Wilson Park on the East side of the river
2. The area around 14th Ave and St. Germain
3. And the area around 15th and Clearwater

There are also some other houses we are looking at that are near Benton County fairgrounds and one near Clemens-Munsinger Gardens.

Thanks in advance!

[golfgal]

Sauk Rapids area is fine. Sartell is considered the "best" school district in the area but Sauk is good too. I can't help with specific neighborhoods though.

[macwild]

Thanks for the info. Yes we have heard about the "amazing" Sartell! Hopefully Sauk Rapids will be a good fit.

[Muzz11]

I'm going to be a senior at Sauk Rapids High School and have gone there since freshmen year, so I may be able to answer your questions about the school.

1. It is a safe school. There is one policeman that stands in the hallways, to make sure nothing happens. In the three years I went there, nothing bad has happened. I'd say the most unsafe part about the school is all the windows. They're ascetically pleasing, unless there is a tornado. Then they're a hazard.

2. My family moved to Sauk Rapids from St. Cloud for the education. There are a variety of classes to choose from, which is good to find something you're interested in. However, if not enough people signed up for a class then the school won't have that class. Which forced me to redo my whole schedule for this year. Other than that, I think your kids will get a good education. Most of the teachers are good at teaching and try to help if you're not understating something. There are a few that aren't so good at teaching, but that goes for any school. The counselors make sure you're passing all of the standardize test. There are classes to help if you're falling behind in certain areas, like reading or math. The counselors stress the importance of college, make you apply for scholarships and send in college applications.

Side note: The teachers here are pretty quirky, I have a lot of funny stories/memories from the teachers being themselves.

3. There are quite a few activities that aren't sports to choose from:
Knowledge Bowl (A trivia competition)
Robotics
Speech Team
Math League
Culinary
P4T (Club that talks to younger kids about drugs, relationships etc.)
FFA
Drama (Fall musical, one act play, spring musical)
Drum Line
SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving, they help advocate against drunk driving...)
Marching Band
DECA (A business class which also competes in competitions)
Winter Guard
Secret Justice League (I'm not exactly sure what they do. They do put on a culture show once a year. I also think they help against bullying.)
LINK (Shows new kids and freshman around the school)

I may have forgotten some, but I think that's all of them.

[NoHomeTown]

Muzz11,
Your articulate, grammatically-correct response to macwild is a testament to the quality education that you have received! I'd say that's pretty good publicity for Sauk Rapids' schooling!!