Western Canada High School

Infobox Education in Canada
name= Western Canada High School


imagesize= 250px
schoolboard= Calgary Board of Education
motto= Motto: "Intelligentia, Vires, Virtus"
(Latin for: Understanding, Strength, Courage)
established= 1903
type= Private (1903 - 1928, as Western Canada College)
Public (since 1928)
streetaddress= 641 17 Avenue SW
city= Calgary
province= Alberta
country= Canada
postalcode= T2S 0B5
principal= Carol Grant-Watt
viceprincipal= Tom Bugeman
grades= 10, 11, 12
enrollment_as_of= September 2007
enrollment= 1968
grade10= 627
grade11= 609
grade12= 732
campus= Urban
communities= Mount Royal Mission, Cliff Bungalow, Connaught
website= http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b816/
school_board= Calgary Board of Education
religious_affiliation= None (since 1926)
lastupdate= March 9, 2008

Western Canada High School (WCHS) is a public senior high school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It has classes for grades 10 through 12. Western is located in the 17th Avenue business district of the Mount Royal community, and is the most centrally located public high school in Calgary.

WCHS is a highly regarded high school in Western Canada. The school is reputed for its fierce academics, strong extra-curriculars, fine arts and athletics programs. In past years, students have been admitted to prestigious universities such as Amherst, Berkeley, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, McGill, NYU, Penn, Queen's, Princeton, Stanford, University of Toronto, University of Western Ontario, University of Virginia, UCLA, University of Waterloo and Wharton.

History

The original school building was completed in 1903 as a British-style exclusive high school for boys called Western Canada College (not a college in the North American sense of the word). It was created by "The Western Canada College Bill of Incorporating Ordinance" enacted by the Government of the Northwest Territories, which Calgary was then a part of before the province of Alberta was created in 1905. [ [http://www3.telus.net/wchsalumni/history/wchs_history.htm WCHS historical timeline] ]

The private school had financial problems and was sold to the Calgary Board of Education. The CBE renamed it, re-opened it as public school, and constructed additional buildings on the land. To raise funds for the new college, 5000 shares were sold for $10 each. Many of the original investors read like a "Who's Who" list for Alberta; Pat Burns, R. B. Bennett, A.E. Cross, William Pearce, A.C. Rutherford (who was premier at the time), and George Lane.

Western was Calgary's first composite high school, providing both technical and academic courses of study. The school has been substantially renovated and additions have been made to the building over the years. Linda Raasveldt became the first female principal of the school in 2002. Currently, the school is undergoing a series of renovations.

pecial programs

The school provides French and Spanish language as a primary language instruction. In addition, it is one of a select number of schools in Calgary to offer French immersion. Western is one of a small number of Calgary high schools to offer an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme in English, and is the only Calgary public high school to offer the program in French. Each year, about 20-40 students graduate with an IB Diploma, and significantly more graduate with an IB certificate. It is also the only school in Alberta to offer Higher Level mathematics. The school also offers an extensive performing and visual arts program, and offers a certificate to recognize students that have made fine arts a focus of learning at the high school level. Fewer than 20 students received the certificate in 2006.

In 2007, Western Canada High School has also started to offer an online multicultural awareness program: Connections 25.

Notable alumni

*Conrad Bain - Actor, known for his portrayal of Phillip Drummond on Different Strokes
*Jim Dinning - Former Alberta treasurer [ [http://www.jimdinning.ca/biography.htm Jim Dinning biography (personal web site)] ]
*Daniel Philip Hays - Speaker of the Canadian Senate [Lau, Michael, "A century of schooling: Western Canada High School turns 100 in 2003 and alumni are planning a mega reunion complete with tunnel tours", "Calgary Herald", September 28, 2000, pg. 2]
*Pat Kelly - Comedian, actor, and TV host. [cite news | first = Jason | last = Lewis | url = http://www.ffwdweekly.com/Issues/2004/0909/film3.htm | title = The doctor of love is in: Former Loose Moose improviser plays the ladies’ man in Intern Academy | work = FFWD Weekly | date = 2004-09-09 | accessdate = 2006-08-08 ]
*Norman Kwong - Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta and the youngest athlete to be a member of a winning Grey Cup team in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a member of the Order of Canada. [ [http://www.lieutenantgovernor.ab.ca/aoe/council.cfm The Alberta Order of Excellence] - Profile of Norman Kwong]
*Matthew Cairns - A guy who is so awesome that all the teachers in the school gave him 100% for not attending class. Matthew also invented several useful tools like the crowbar and pencil.
*Larry Robinson - Played with the Calgary Stampeders from 1961 to 1974, winning the Grey Cup in 1971. He was the first player in the CFL to score over 1,000 points in a season. [ [http://www.nflcflfutures.com/NFLCFLFuturesNews04/0225.html "Top-Ten All-time players from Alberta (Football Alberta)"] , "CANOE JAM! Sports"] [ [http://www.stampeders.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=770 Stampeders player profile for Larry Robinson] ]
*Kinnie Starr - Singer/songwriter who was nominated for the Juno Award for New Artist of the Year in 2004. [Wilton, Lisa, [http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/S/Starr_Kinnie/2000/06/10/pf-749929.html "New Starr of hip-hop"] , "CANOE JAM! Showbiz"]
*Taryn Swiatek - Former member of the Canada women's national soccer team which placed fourth in the FIFA Women's World Cup competition in 2003. [Maxwell, Cameron, [http://cgi.canoe.ca/Slam020127/cis_soc_cal-sun.html "Swiatek sets sights on China"] , "Calgary Sun", "Canadian Online Explorer", January 27, 2002.]
*David E. Mitchell, O.C. - Founder of Alberta Energy Company which, along with PanCanadian Energy, merged to create EnCana Corporation.

ee also

*St. Mary's High School - The only other high school in the nearby area. It also predates the province of Alberta, and it also has an IB program.

References

External links

* [http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b816/ Western Canada High School official site]
* [http://www3.telus.net/wchsalumni/ WCHS Alumni Association]
* [http://calgarypubliclibrary.com/calgary/historic_tours/public/pub38.htm Western Canada College at the Calgary Public Library] - Photo of the original building.