West Hill Collegiate Institute

West Hill Collegiate Institute (also called West Hill CI, WHCI or West Hill) is a public high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in eastern Scarborough in the neighbourhood of West Hill. It is under the jurisdiction of the Toronto District School Board. From its founding until 1998, it was part of the Scarborough Board of Education.

West Hill Collegiate Institute
West Hill C.I.'s entrance, constructed in the 1970s.
Address
350 Morningside Avenue

, ,
M1E 3G3

Canada
Coordinates43.775872°N 79.190550°W / 43.775872; -79.190550
Information
School typePublic High School
MottoLatin: Surgo in Lucem
(I rise into the light)
Founded1955
School boardToronto District School Board
(Scarborough Board of Education)
SuperintendentSheryl Robinson Petrazzini
LN15
Area trusteeZakir Patel
Ward 19
School number4184 / 951560
PrincipalWendy Blain
Vice PrincipalsMichael Grover
Gayle McIntosh
Grades9–12
Enrollment758[1] (2014–15)
LanguageEnglish
Campus size17.07 acres
AreaWest Hill, Toronto
Colour(s)Red, Grey and White    
MascotWolfie the Wolf
Team nameWest Hill Warriors
West Hill Lady Warriors
YearbookAfterglow
Websiteschoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/westhillci

The school was opened in 1955 and named after the community of West Hill, Toronto in which the school is located, and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2005. It is a non-semestered composite high school and home of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Centre of Innovation program.

West Hill C.I.'s motto is Surgo in Lucem which translates as I rise into the light.

History

With population growth increasing, the newly-formed Scarborough Board of Education (a board forerunner to the TDSB) opened several new schools beginning in the mid-late 1950s. Before the construction of the new local high school, students lived in the West Hill area attended Scarborough Collegiate Institute (renamed to R.H. King in 1954).

The school, now known as West Hill Collegiate Institute began its construction 1954 and the staff was in place in May 1954. On May 31, 1954, SBE acquired additional seven acres for the new school. As its fourth high school in the borough, West Hill Collegiate Institute opened its doors on September 6. 1955, with 25 staff and 376 students along with its first principal, Harvey A.C. Farrow and vice-principal Francis S. Jennings. The original building was designed by the Toronto-based architectural firm Carter, Coleman and Rankin Associates.[2] West Hill was officially opened on December 14, 1955.

From the beginning, the original building consisted of 27 classrooms, a library, main office, gymnatorium, and cafeteria. Expansion of the school had resulted additional construction of 12 classrooms in 1959, followed by the auditorium in 1963, and the second gymnasium and swimming pool in 1971. By 1977, West Hill held with 2131 students with 100 teachers. Today, West Hill capacity can be up to 1407 students.

In 2002, West Hill was noted for beating rival R. H. King Academy 150 to 58 in a basketball game in which West Hill star Denham Brown scored 13 three pointers.[3]

From the 2009-10 school year, West Hill kept the Warriors moniker, but the Native American head, which was used since its inception, was replaced with a stylized Trojan mascot in 2010.[4]

West Hill Collegiate Institute was one of several Toronto high schools with low enrolment rates that were placed under Pupil Accommodation Review in 2015 by the Toronto school board.[5][6]

Crest

The crest for West Hill consists of a red shield with a white shield bordered in black and silver containing a red sun on the top, between a magic lantern (commonly found on most school logos in the TDSB) and a sheaf is the school motto, "Surgo in Lucem" (I rise into the light) in a black banner. On the bottom of the crest, there is the white banner inscription that reads "West Hill Collegiate Institute".

Campus

West Hill is located near the intersection of Kingston Rd and Morningside Avenue. Houses are to the west and Highland Creek to the north and east. It is next to Morningside Park, and close to the University of Toronto Scarborough and Centennial College as well as nearby separate school, St. John Paul II Catholic Secondary School.

West Hill shares the same design as Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute and has since altered overtime. It began with 27 rooms but the school underwent a renovation during the 1970s to create an additional 50 classrooms, four gymnasiums, a library (named after West Hill's first principal, H.A.C. Farrow), two studios for the Drama Department, workshop rooms, and a quad to enable creative learning opportunities for studies in science. The area's revival took over a decade, and won several environmental awards. In addition, it serves as working grounds for visual arts students. The school holds a swimming pool in its southwest wing, which is open to staff, students, and the community.

Programs

The 598-seated Francis S. Jennings Auditorium.

Athletics

West Hill Collegiate Institute's physical education department has a student-run council (West Hill Athletic Council or WHAC), which organizes school spirit assemblies, the Athletic Banquet, and intramural sports.

Arts

The Drama Department participates in the Ontario Sears Drama Festival, and every winter, they perform a play. West Hill has a concert band which has competed in music competitions since the 1980s and have ranked first several times. The Music Department features two annual concerts: one in winter for the holidays and one in the spring called, "Music in May".

Leadership

The Student Activity Council (SAC) plans and executes events and activities for the student body such as Grade 9 Orientation Day, Welcome Back Carnival, Holiday Concert, Semi-Formal and Prom. Students are elected for SAC positions every June and decisions are made by the student body.

The Prefects consists of students in grade 10 to 12 who are selected by teachers at the end of every school year. Prefects volunteer at events during the school year and occasionally organize their own events. Student philanthropists participate in an organization called Me to We which aims to make positive differences for society on a local and global level through events throughout the school year.

Culture

As a multicultural school, West Hill has clubs to reflect the culture and ethnic minorities present in the school. Some of the cultural clubs at WHCI include the Desi Club, Afro-Canadian Association, Muslim Student Association, Bengali Student Association, and West Indian Club, all of which perform in the school's multicultural assemblies. WHCI's Multicultural Committee plans and executes Food Fiestas and an annual Multicultural Night.

Academics

West Hill offers Advanced Placement opportunities in Mathematics, English, Chemistry, Biology and Physics which prepare students for studies at university. The West Hill Physics Club goes to McMaster University's Science Olympics every year. They have won the Paper Triathlon and placed third in Twist and Turn, a protein building exercise. The Robotics Club, SWATT (Scarborough Warriors at the Top) Team #1088, competed in the 2003 FIRST Robotics Competitions. As rookies, they won three awards: first place in the Canadian Regional Championships, Engineering Design and the Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers Entrepreneurship Awards. The team travelled to Houston, Texas that year to compete internationally; the following year, they went to Atlanta, Georgia. This club is inactive.

Ranking

The Fraser Institute gave West Hill C.I. an overall rating of 4.1/10 for the 2016–2017 school year, when the school was ranked 663 out of 747 Ontario high schools.[7]

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of West Hill Collegiate Institute include:

See also

References

  1. Brown, Louise (31 January 2015). "Behind the schools on the closings hit list". Toronto Star. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  2. http://dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/892
  3. Hancock, Pat (2009). Crazy Canadian Trivia 4. Scholastic Canada. pp. 20.
  4. Paterson, Stuart (December 7, 2009). "School Sheds its Warrior Image Over Aboriginal Stereotypes". The Globe and Mail.
  5. Howlett, Karen (4 February 2015). "Toronto Board Recommends Selling Four Schools, Reviewing 31 More". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  6. "Fate of dozens of underutilized schools to be determined over next 3 years, TDSB says". CTV News. February 11, 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  7. "Report Card for West Hill Collegiate Institute". Fraser Institute. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  8. Thiersch, Antje (2002). The Reality B(ey)ond: Triviality and Profundity in the Novels of Joan Barfoot. Galda & Wilch. p. 227. ISBN 9783931397395.
  9. "Steve Nash, Rowan Barrett team up at Basketball Canada".
  10. "Shepherd, Brown remember basketball glory days with West Hill".
  11. "Delroy Clarke goes from CFL to RCMP, next in long line of CFLers in police work". Yahoo Sports Canada. 1 June 2015.
  12. Cowan, Judith (2014). The Permanent Nature of Everything: A Memoir. McGill-Queen's Press. p. 308. ISBN 9780773596238.
  13. "West Hill's open spaces". pressreader.com. April 5, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  14. "bio".
  15. "Kyle Johnson". Times Newspapers. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  16. "High school results, June 2". thestar.com. June 2, 2008. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  17. Grossman, David (August 12, 2015). "Scarborough's Liam McMorrow Keeping NBA Dream Alive". Inside Toronto.
  18. Bradley, Brian (2020). Outrageous Misfits: Female Impersonator Craig Russell and His Wife, Lori Russell Eadie. Dundurn. p. 28. ISBN 9781459746978.
  19. "Top Scarborough athletes leave their mark at high school".
  20. "Shepherd, Brown Remember Basketball Glory Days With West Hill". Scarborough Mirror. August 12, 2011.
  21. Carter, Tristan (November 18, 2009). "Chris Stewart Shines in NHL". The Toronto Observer.
  22. Hatherly, Tara (December 7, 2015). "Scarborough Native The Weeknd Scores Seven Grammy Nominations". Inside Toronto.
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