WOODBURY – The start of spring means the start of the lacrosse co-ops, but that is just the beginning of the similarities between Nonnewaug High School and Lakeview High School. At first glance, Nonnewaug and Lakeview seem to be connected only because they are in the same league, but there is more to it than what meets the eye.
Nonnewaug and Lakeview share 3 co-ops: girls lacrosse, boys lacrosse, and football.
“It’s been a great experience meeting new people and interacting with Lakeview,” said freshman co-op lacrosse player, Luca Musso. “I think the people from Lakeview are just great people and the kids from both Nonnewaug and Lakeview are really similar.”
But that is not where the likeness ends.
Lakeview High School in region 20 was created by the merge of schools Wamago High School and Litchfield High School in 2024. Since then, it has adopted many Nonnewaug traits.
Rebecca Pope, a former Wamogo science teacher and now a current Nonnewaug faculty member and coach, shares the resemblance between Nonnewaug and Lakeview.
“I was a big part of the development of Lakeview when I was still working at Wamogo,” Pope said, “and there was a lot of discussion about how Lakeview is gonna kind of mirror Nonnewaug with the communities that are part of it, the size of the school, and the way sports were going to get better. So there are a lot of similarities.”
These high schools also don’t have many differences in school culture which further ties them together.
“I went to Nonnewaug [in high school] and compared to Lakeview, the culture is very similar,” said Nonnewaug assistant track coach and Lakeview Spanish teacher, Anna McCarthy. “It is kind of like being back at Nonnewaug, which is actually really fun.”
Lakeview and Nonnewaug have shared many teachers and coaches like McCarthy, but also many teachers have switched from working at Lakeview to working at Nonnewaug and vice versa. This includes Danielle Carroccio, a Nonnewaug math teacher/coach and former Lakeview teacher/coach.
“The transition for me was easy because the schools are so similar,” said Carrocio. “I like the camaraderie between the schools.”
Nonnewaug teachers aren’t the only ones who are involved in both Lakeview and Nonnewaug culture. Some Nonnewaug staff members, like Marrisa Holtman, a teacher in the English department, have children that attend school in region 20 and plan to go to Lakeview.
“I love that it just makes us feel like such a small community, even though we all live in various different towns, especially through sports,” said Holtman. “My son knows a lot of athletes from Woodbury and vice versa. It just makes it feel like more of a friendly kind of connection. And it’s comforting for my own kids, who go to school at Plum Hill, to feel comfortable enough knowing teachers and students in both districts.”
While Lakeview is still in its development process, it seems they will continue to mirror Nonnewaug in many aspects.
“Nonnewaug is just obviously more established. I know the Chiefs have had a long culture of winning for a long time in the Berkshire League, and Lakeview is kind of building something from scratch,” said Pope. “I think Lakeview will continue to improve athletically and become more competitive.”
