Cawthra Park Secondary School

Cawthra Park is home to Peel's Regional Arts Program (RAP), for which students audition to study music (instrumental [concert band, guitar, and piano] or vocal), dance, dramatic arts or visual arts. Approximately two thirds of Cawthra's students are in the RAP program, with the remaining students coming from the local area.

Cawthra offers a Specialist High-Skills Major (SHSM) in Arts & Culture, allowing students to complete additional certifications and trainings to prepare for their career path. The school is hosting their first virtual open house on October 27, 2020 due to COVID-19. The school's Artistic Director will host a live webcast followed by an opportunity to speak virtually with all Art's department heads. Consult the school's website from more details.

Cawthra Park also offers a full standard academic program so that students complete all compulsory subjects and graduate with an Ontario Secondary School Diploma.

In 2017–2018, the school exceeded provincial averages for both the EQAO and OSSLT test scores.[1]

The school boasts competitive academic classes which match or exceed the quality of other academic programs in Peel, including a SHSM program in Arts and Culture. The school features a renowned humanities department, with numerous accomplished extracurricular programs such as the Mock Trial team.[2]

The music department has performed over the years at various prominent venues, including mass at the Vatican City, onstage at Disney's Magic Kingdom, Austria, and for the former American ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins.

The music department includes many different choral and instrumental ensembles, made up predominantly of 'music majors,' but also including students not enrolled in the music program. The Ritz, a concert choir with over 360 members, is the largest in North America. Other ensemble groups include Chamber Choir, Les Belles Classiques, Singsation, Jazz-A-Peel, Momentum, Mississauga Transit, Jazz Lab, Guitar Ensemble, and the Intermediate and Senior Concert Bands.

Each year the music department organizes a trip in the spring as an opportunity to perform outside of the GTA, open to any student involved with the department. Locations have included Disney World, Italy, Boston, Chicago, Nashville, Austria in 2012, and New York City in 2015.

In May and June 2013, the Cawthra Park Chamber Choir performed with The Rolling Stones in the Air Canada Centre.[3] The Stones asked if the Chamber choir would accompany them to Montreal for a June 9 show but the school declined the request.

Every ensemble has achieved gold status at MusicFest, and has received frequent invitations and awards at National competitions.

Cawthra's drama facilities include three studios, as well as a large, professional auditorium that seats 667. Approximately sixty drama students are accepted per year, giving each year two classes with around thirty students each. Course contents range from practical scene studies and stage combat to more theoretical concepts including a unit on 'great acting teachers' and theatre's roots in Ancient Greece. This program also introduces its students to many new aspects of theatre including theatre production, musical theatre, and set and costume design.

Coming in at #1 with the phoniest kids and wannabe internet celebrities are the drama majors!

The drama department annually spearheads the school's spring play and monitors the school's annual participation in the National Theatre School Drama Festival each February due to the aforementioned competition being primarily student run. The department also shares directorial responsibilities with its music and dance counterparts for the fall musical – a widely praised and highly anticipated spectacle drawing thousands annually.

The Drama department used to go on senior trips, some destinations have included, Greece, Rome, Chicago but with most recent trips being solely to New York City. This trip is open to any interested grade 11 and grade 12 theatre students; recent New York Trips have included viewings of many acclaimed Broadway shows such as Cabaret, The Realistic Joneses and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. In recent years the Drama department has paused the regular senior trips to the United States due to difficulties with border crossing.

Every year in late October the school hosts an open house evening in late October where over 2000 prospective parents and students attend one of three identical performances accompanied by a personal tour. Visitors can meet staff and students and have any questions answered concerning the Regional Arts Program.

The Visual Arts Department offers a wide variety of courses available to students both in the art program as well as to students pursuing other disciplines. Courses include traditional, modern and post-modern art, desktop design, media arts and photography. The department also has ties to other departments at Cawthra Park such as fashion and communication technology. One major event for the Visual Arts department is the annual Visual Arts SpringFest where the school is transformed into an art gallery. Senior Visual Arts students also partake in an art-focused week-long class trip to New York City.

Throughout the four-year program, students refine their technical skills and develop their creativity in dance. Dance forms that are studied include ballet, modern dance, musical theater and jazz. Besides practical experience, the students are also required to study a theoretical curriculum that includes topics such as the history of dance, kinesiology, composition, criticism and social issues relating to the dance community such as eating disorders, and arthritis. The department provides the opportunity for students with and without formal training to develop dance skills through the Regional Arts Program. The department also offers elective dance courses for students not enrolled in the dance program, as well as dance opportunities for all students regardless of their arts discipline. Major events for the Dance Department include Dance Springfest in early April and Dance Mosaix in late May.

The school also puts on a fall musical and a spring play annually.

° = These musicals were performed by the Clarkson Musical Theatre at the school in spring (and not students) before the tradition of the spring play came into place.

∆ = The school choose to delegate the fall spot to the Clarkson Music Theatre for their musical so they could instead prepare the school's first attempt at a spring play.

The 2017-2018 girl's volleyball team completed a perfect season, not giving up a single set on their way to capturing the ROPSSAA championship.

Din Selmanovic won the 200 m Freestyle with a time of 1:55.20 at the 2014 OFSSA Swimming Championships in Brantford, Ontario.

Athletic courses as of the 2015–2016 school year include both boys and girls basketball, golf, swimming, alpine skiing, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, ultimate frisbee, soccer, tennis, hockey, cross country, track & field teams, and a boys' baseball team.[11]

The Cawthra Panthers Baseball Team won the 2007 ROPSSAA Tier 1 Baseball Championships for the first time in the school's history with a 6–2 win over Mount Carmel. The Cawthra Park Hockey Team reached the ROPSAA finals on several occasions.

In February 2019 the Cawthra Panthers swim team excelled with multiple first-place finishes in ROPSSA leading them to win some exceptionally good pizza and a pep talk about life from Kyle Lowry the NBA Champion!

The 2012 Cawthra Panthers Ultimate Frisbee team in their second season reached the ROPSSAA finals, placing second to John Cabot SS[12]

Past students of Cawthra Park include:

• Erica Peck, lead role in the musical We Will Rock You in Toronto and a Broadway performer[13][14]
• Daria Werbowy, supermodel
• Wali Shah, singer-songwriter, educational speaker, United Way ambassador and honouree of Canada's Top 20 Under 20[15]
• Sebastien Grainger, singer-songwriter, Death from Above 1979
• Blake McGrath, singer, dancer, star of Dancelife, finalist on So You Think You Can Dance (season 1)
• Deanna Casaluce, actor, Degrassi: The Next Generation
• Adamo Ruggiero, actor, Degrassi: The Next Generation
• Amanda Stepto, actor, Degrassi: The Next Generation
• David Bryant, guitarist for Godspeed You! Black Emperor
• The FemBots, musicians
• Drew McCreadie, winner of Best Male Improvisor in Canada at the Canadian Comedy Awards.
• J.D Fortune, Former Replacement INXS Lead Singer
• Lorne Ryder, Singer/Songwriter – CCMA and Canadian Smooth Jazz Award Nominee
• Dan Griffin, Vocalist/Guitarist/Keyboardist for the Arkells
• Dave Seglins, CBC News
• Marnie Woodrow, Author
• Sabrina Grdevich, Actor
• Kevin Hanchard, Actor
• Pooja Handa, CP24 Anchor
• Mark Poesch, Associate Professor, Fisheries and Aquatic Conservation, University of Alberta

• List of high schools in Ontario

• www.cawthrapark.com