Vancouver Technical Secondary School

Infobox_Education_in_Canada
name= Vancouver Technical Secondary School


imagesize= 120px
motto= Semper Sursum
streetaddress=2600 East Broadway
city= Vancouver
province= British Columbia
postalcode= V5M 1Y5
areacode= 604
phone= 713-8215
fax= 713-8214
email=
url= http://vantech.vsb.bc.ca/
schoolnumber= 03939011
schoolboard= School District 39 Vancouver
superintendent=
trustee=
affiliation=
principal= Mr. Dave Derpak
viceprincipal=Mr. Hank Lyth<
administrator=
custodian=
schooltype= Secondary school
grades= 8-12
language= English, French immersion
area= Mount Pleasant
Grandview-Woodland
Kensington-Cedar Cottage
Hastings-Sunrise
Renfrew-Collingwood
mascot= Talisman (Wiki Tiki Tribe Member)
teamname= Van Tech Talismen
colours= Green & Gold
founded= 1916
enrollment= 1616 [http://www.vsb.bc.ca/NR/rdonlyres/F4CC82AB-7655-4240-B8BD-1C35CF67054A/0/ReadyRefcondensedversionrevisedjan.pdf Ready Reference March 2008] ]
lastupdate= March 2008

Vancouver Technical Secondary School, often referred to as Van Tech, is located on the East Side of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

History

The school originally opened in 1916, for boys only, in the Fairview neighbourhood. It then moved Downtown until 1928 when it moved to its present location in east Vancouver. In 1940, girls were admitted.

Current School Profile

Vancouver Technical is the fourth largest secondary school in Vancouver and is attendedby over 1700 students. The population is ethnically diverse; over fifty-two languages arespoken in students’ homes. This diversity was noted by Globe and Mail columnist
Stephen Hume, who described Vancouver Technical as “one of the most ethnicallydiverse schools in Canada” (Globe and Mail, December 2003). The school is also hometo the second-largest population of First Nations students in Vancouver. The school’sefforts to meet the needs of its diverse population led the Canadian Education Associationto place it on its 1995 list of twenty-five exemplary Canadian schools. Van Tech has astaff of approximately 130 and the administrative staff consists of a principal and twovice-principals.

Geography/Building

Vancouver Technical is one of the largest Secondary schools in the Lower Mainland. This school features one asphalt 400 meter oval track, two grass fields, one turf field, basketball courts, and tennis courts.

Vancouver Technical is made up of several buildings. The main building is 4 floors high with one basement floor, attached to the main building is an auditorium. The Girls Wing is attached to the main building, it houses the Home Economics courses, although the Girls Wing is to be demolished at the end of the Earthquake Proof Project. There is also a Technology Building which houses the Graphics, Drafting, Electronics, Woodworks, Metalworks, Hairdressing and the Flex Minischool Program, according to the plans of the seismic upgrade; the Home Economics is supposed to be moved to the Tech Wing. There is also a group of portables that are located away from the main group of buildings which house the Spectrum Program. A second group of portables are also used for temporary classrooms during the Seismic Upgrading. It is currently undergoing Phase 2.

Minischools

Vancouver Technical offers a wide range of minischool programs. Summit is a minischool program which focuses on academic courses; especially math and the sciences. Flex is a minischool program which focuses on leadership abilities,cooperation and humanities and the arts (its classes include art, french, historical studies, and classical studies/philosophy) Both programs go from grade 8-10. Summit is for academically gifted students, while Flex is for above average, critically-thinking students who have a strong interest in humanities and cooperative learning. The summit provincial exam average has always been way over the provincial average. In addition, Summit had an award-winning science teacher, Barbara Glick, who is currently retired.

There is also a French Immersion program at Van Tech. Students go from grade 8-12 in the French Immersion program, and as a result, develop a strong sense of community including their teachers and fellow students.

Technical Courses

Vancouver Technical is home to many technical courses. The school includes one of the largest technology classrooms in Secondary Schools in Vancouver, such as the Graphics, Woodworks, and Metalworks classrooms. The Graphics program is one of the most robust found in the Lower Mainland, this program involves teens working with professional level software/hardware (Adobe Photoshop CS3/IllustratorCS3/Flash CS3/After Effects CS3/Premiere Pro CS3/inDesign CS3, 22 Apple Computer Mac G5, Kimoto Direct to Plate), and also, the students are actively involved in the printing department with printing presses (2 One Colour AB Dick Presses, 1 One colour Itec Press). The Drafting/Architecture/Animation program involves teens of all grades working with Auto CAD, and Solid Edge software, as well as computer cut styrofoam models and other Adobe programs. Woodworks is also offered at Vancouver Technical, in this course; students learn to work with wood and machinery, students are taught to work with power tools. Metalworks is also offered at Vancouver Technical, where students learn to use machinery. Electronics is also another course offered at Vancouver Technical, where students learn to test and build circuits, such as a digital clock or amplifier. Auto Mechanics, Home economics, Hair Dressing, Photography, and a Film Production course, taught by an ex-National Film Board director, are also offered at Vancouver Technical.

Music

Vancouver Technical includes some of the most successful secondary level music courses in the world. Concert Band is offered in all grades, in three levels: Beginner, Intermediate, and Senior. There is also Strings as an after-school course, which is also offered in all grades. Choir is also another course involving music. As an east-side secondary school in Vancouver, all music programs are under-estimated by west-side secondary schools of Vancouver. However, outside of Vancouver, the senior band is known as one of the top school bands in the world. The band will now be able to perform in the school's newly upgraded auditorium. The senior band of 07-08 recently returned from their trip to Banff, Alberta, with a pitstop at a middle-school in Kamloops, BC. The group of 80 musicians was well received at the Rocky Mountain Music Festival this year.

Vancouver Technical and Hollywood

Vancouver Technical Secondary stood in as Smallville High in the first season of the television series "Smallville", before the filming location was moved to Templeton Secondary School. However VanTech continued to show up in the opening credits (it shows up in the background of Allison Mack's credit) until the fourth season. However, the track/field was still used later on in the series.

Vancouver Technical Secondary was also used for the backdrop in the first Scary Movie, in the beauty contest scene, and as the school location for the movie Air Bud, in which all the classroom and indoor scenes are filmed. Students from the school were also used as extras in that film.

In the movie Paycheck with Ben Affleck, the outside of the school as well as the main hall are the locations of scenes.

Vancouver Technical Secondary was also used for the set as Cornwall High School in the movie She's the Man starring Amanda Bynes. In the second scene of the movie, after the credits in the beginning, actual students from Vancouver Technical can be seen playing basketball in the background. Everybody else playing sports on the field are extras.

Vancouver Technical was used for the independent film "Justin Sekiguchi Does Dallas" in 2006.

TimeTable Information

Vancouver Technical Secondary School operates on a linear timetable on a Day1 / Day2 rotation, from September to June. Some courses (senior electives) may be offered as half-year courses (semester) or may be available off timetable.

Each day has four (4) blocks of 1 hour and 20 minutes of instruction in each block, except for Friday when the instructional time is one (1) hour per block. The blocks rotate four times a year and each day classes begin at 8:40 a.m. and end at 3:10 p.m. (Monday to Thursday). On Fridays, the day ends at 1:40 p.m.

Notable alumni

*Donald Bellamy, 21-year veteran of Vancouver City Council
*Greg Joy, Olympic medalist - track and field
*Trooper, Rock and Roll outfit
*Kepler Rotheisler, 1996 Special Olympics Silver Medalist - Ribbon Dancing
*Dorothy Stratten, 1980 Playboy playmate of the year murdered by estranged husband
*Sam Sullivan, Mayor of the City of Vancouver
*Emma Preston, 2008 Rhodes Scholar

References

External links

* [http://vantech.vsb.bc.ca/ Vancouver Technical Secondary School]
* [http://www.vsb.bc.ca/schools/Secondaryschools/03939011/default.htm Vancouver School Board - Vancouver Technical Secondary]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=8juO5kgs13s Van Tech students playing Spanish Fever]
* [http://www.vantechband.com Van Tech Band Program website]