Westdale Secondary School

Infobox_Education_in_Canada
name= Westdale Secondary School


motto= "Alius Alia Via Ad Astra Ascendit"
motto_translation= 'Each Reach For The Stars In Their Own Way'
streetaddress= 700 Main Street West
city= Hamilton
province= Ontario
postalcode= L8S 1A5
areacode= 905
phone= 522-1387
fax= 521-0542
url= http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/westdale/index.html
principal= E. Del Sordo
schooltype= High school
grades= 9-12
mascot= The Westdale Warrior
founded= 1931
enrollment= 1470
lastupdate= November 17, 2006

Westdale Secondary School is a public high school founded in 1931 in Hamilton, Ontario. It is the second oldest high school in the city of Hamilton (after Delta Secondary [ [http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/delta/Alumni/75thRegistrants.html 75th Registrants ] ] ) and is located in Westdale Village, a suburb in the west-end of the city. It is administered by the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. Westdale offers the most university-bound courses in the city, including: Drama, Music, Visual Arts, Media Arts, Economics, GIS, Philosophy, Latin, German, and more. It also has many special programs for students including French Immersion, Hockey Focus, Court Sports, Strings (music), Video Production, and Writer's Craft. Westdale celebrated its 75th Anniversary in 2006 and a reunion, along with many other festivities ran from May 17 to May 20.

History

Westdale was founded as a collegiate school—housing three collegiates under one roof—and was, at the time, the largest school in the British Commonwealth. The original building was referred to as "Westdale Composite School", or "Westdale Tripartite School", due to the fact that it housed three separate schools. The collegiate, technical and commercial schools were housed on the left, middle, and right side of the school, with the cafeteria on the fourth floor (this was changed later, the cafeteria now being on the first floor). The architects Prack and Prack designed the building with arched doorways and pseudo-buttresses of the "school gothic" architectural style. The building was constructed by J.M. Piggott Construction Company at an initial cost of $1,306,521.00 (including 4.7 hectares of land). The school has undergone three major renovations, which occurred in 1959, 1974/75 respectively, and just recently had new doors, lockers and windows installed.

Charity Activities

The ideas of selflessness and community are at the foundation of Westdale's learning system. Westdale regularly participates in and plays host to numerous fundraisers and awareness rallies. Each year the students organise such events as Keep the Beat, Coffee House, and the 30 Hour Famine. Westdale makes annual contributions to the Stephen Lewis Foundation through crêpe sales and other fund raiser activities. In 2005, Westdale students were part of the effort to keep the Victoria Cross of Frederick George Topham in Canada, as it was being auctioned off by his family. Westdale also runs an annual food drive for the food banks in Hamilton. It is estimated that Westdale students contribute close to 40% of the canned items and goods the food bank hands out at Christmas.

Haiti Run

Westdale annually hosts the Haiti Run, a charity event that is held on a Saturday in the fall as a fund raiser aimed at raising money to build schools and nurseries and raising awareness about the desperate situation in Haiti. During the event, participants walk, run or jog through Westdale Village having secured pledges in the weeks leading up to the run. This event is widely publicized and while hosted by Westdale, is considered an annual Hamilton event.

War Child

Westdale regularly raises money for War Child Canada through an event called "Keep the Beat". In the period of 2003-2006, Westdale raised $34,000 for War Child Canada. As a show of their appreciation, War Child asked Sum 41 members Cone and Dave to visit Westdale to kick off the '05-06 Keep the Beat, at the Coffee House event. As a direct result of Westdale's effort, a school in the village of Makobola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, is being rebuilt after being destroyed in war. [http://www.warchild.ca/news_article.asp?ID=144] During the 2006-2007 Keep The Beat on Dec. 7th to 8th, Westdale's Coffee House and Keep the Beat event brought in an additional $36,000 for War Child Canada.

Terry Fox Run

Westdale Secondary also raises money for cancer research every year in the Terry Fox Run. Westdale students collect pledges in the weeks before the run, then they may choose to walk, jog, or run through Westdale Village. Over 2 million people around the world participate in the Terry Fox Run every year in an astounding 6,600 sites including Westdale Secondary School.

Westdale Helps

Westdale Helps is an organization newly formed by Westdale Secondary School in 2006. It was originally proposed by a chemistry teacher new to Westdale, Dr. Orton, at a student club meeting. The first and current initiative of this organization is the Honduras Initiative. Their goal is to raise funds for building materials, so that they able to help families in Honduras build homes. In July 2007, a group of volunteers in the organization will be travelling to Honduras and help out. The homes they are planning to build will be about 400 sq. feet with materials costing about $6000 per home. [ [http://www.westdalehelps.org/honduras.html Westdale Helps ] ]

In order to raise funds, Westdale Helps has hosted a number of fundraising activities. The most notable of them is the Westdale Helps Honduras Benefit Concert, which was held on the evening of April 27. The concert was heald in the auditorium of Westdale Secondary School, and featured appearances from Humble, Sharon Musgrave, Klyde Broox, Lorraine Reid, Kaitlynn McRae, and Westdale's own rock band, The Abbreviations.

Another important method of fundraising is through the use of the online eBay Store [http://stores.ebay.ca/Westdale-Helps_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm] . The concept of the store is for the members in Westdale Helps to donate their unneeded belongings, and these items are sold on the Westdale Helps eBay account.

Extracurricular activities

Music

Westdale is renowned throughout Hamilton (along with Westmount) as one of the premier schools for music students. Students come from all over the city for the wind and string classes, as well as the myriad of extracurricular ensembles including the Jr. Band, Sr. Band, Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Jr. Jazz, Sr. Jazz, and Women's Choir. Other ensembles that have existed at one point in time include the Brass Choir, the Sax Ensemble (also known as the Sax Pistols), a Grease pit band, and many solo/small group acts. The Orchestra, Sr. Band, Sr. Jazz Band and Choir compete abroad every year. In 2003 they went to Montreal, 2004 Boston, 2005 to the Heritage Festival in New York, in 2006 to Montreal again and in 2007 to Chicago.

ports

"The Destiny of a Warrior Is To Fight" and the Warriors, with their plethora of sports teams, fight hard. Although it is grammatically incorrect, a Westdale poster also used the phrase "The "Definition" of a Warrior Is To Fight." Westdale has won at least one OFSAA championship in every sport. As of the 2006-2007 season, Westdale has strong Track & Field, Cross-country, Girls Basketball, Badminton, Water polo and Soccer teams. The Westdale Rowing Team is a consistent powerhouse within the city (along with St. Mary's) and one of the top teams in the region. Two Westdale students received 2nd place medals in the Jr. Men Heavy Double category at "Schoolboy" in St. Catherines in 2007 [ [http://www.cssrarowing.ca/2007-results/sunday.html Final Race Results Sunday June 3, 2007] ] . In 2005, the Warriors varsity baseball team captured the City Championship versus Barton Secondary School. During the 2005-2006 season, the Warriors hockey team finished second in the city, losing a hard fought finals to the Westmount Wildcats. Recent grad Shona Thorburn is now the all-time assist leader at the University of Utah for women's basketball and was drafted 7th overall by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2006 WNBA draft. During the 2006-2007 season, the Westdale Warriors Sr. Girls basketball team finished second in the SOSI Super 12 Senior Girls' Basketball Tournament, losing to the St. Mary's Crusaders. During the 2007-2008 season the Westdale Sr Girls basketball team has fininished 2nd in Ontario with a 3 point loss in the championship. The Westdale Warriors Sr. Football team won 2006 Division I Football championship, Westdale's first championship since 1969 and in the following year Westdale continued its dominance of the public league with a second Championship while scored 256 points and allowing only 35. During the 2006-07 season Westdale's Senior and Junior girls water polo teams won the city championships, the Senior team was undefeated.

Drama & Theatre

Theatre Westdale has been one of finest Drama programs in the city, participating in the 62-year-running Sears Drama Festival, putting on annual productions of musicals, and a host of other activities including an annual 24-hour Improvathon. In terms of musicals, in 2004 Theatre Westdale performed "West Side Story" to audiences in four sold-out nights and in 2005 they performed "Grease". At the Sears Festival in early 2005 Westdale submitted two plays, "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)" and "The Least Offensive Play in the Whole Darn World". Both plays won numerous awards and "The Complete Works" advanced to the provincial showcase. The following year (2006)Westdale submitted the Greek tragedy "Antigone" to the festival and won much critical acclaim, including 4 out of the 17 awards available at the regional level of the competition. In 2007, Westdale again entered two plays: "The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged)", and "The Bald Soprano". The Bald Soprano advanced to the provincial showcase, winning a total of twelve awards throughout the 2007 festival. The 2008 Sears Festival year included one entry from Westdale, the student-written, student-directed play "Prizefighter". The play received 10 awards at the District and Regional levels, including two for its fight choreography.

During 2007-2008, Westdale ran a pilot program of a Theatre Production course, in which students learn the on- and back-stage jobs that go into producing and performing a musical production. The production, "Guys And Dolls", was performed in January 2008.

Mathematics

Westdale has always been one of the foremost schools in the city for mathematics contests. Westdale, for the past few years, was consistently ranked first in the region for the mathematics contests held by the University of Waterloo. In 2006, Westdale ranked 25th nationally [http://cemc.uwaterloo.ca/english/contests/past_result/2006/fermat_honour_roll.pdf] and 13th provincially in the Fermat Math Contest. In the Hypatia written contest, Westdale had two students scoring a Gold standing, as well as two Silver finishes and three Bronze finishes.

Notable alumni

Partial listing of notable alumni ("Celebrity high"):
* Lincoln Alexander, (1922 - ), served as the 24th Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario from 1985 to 1991. Alsso voted the "Greatest Hamiltonian of alltime".
* Len Blum, a Hollywood writer and husband of Heather Munroe-Blum [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0089676/bio Len Blum - Biography ] ]
* David Braley, CFL powerman, owner of the B.C. Lions and owns Orlick Inductries in Hamilton.
* Daniel Goldberg, Movie Producer of Hollywood hits Twins and Space Jam.
* Harry Howell, (1932 - ), Hockey Hall-of-Famer, longtime star for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League.
* Russ Jackson, (1936 - ), CFL Hall-of-Fame Football player.
* Eugene Levy, (1946 - ), is a Canadian Emmy- and Grammy Award-winning actor, television director, producer, musician and writer. [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0506405/bio Eugene Levy - Biography ] ]
* Gord Lewis, member of the band Teenage Head.
* John Munro, (1931 - 2003), was a Canadian politician. Hamilton's John C. Munro International Airport is named after him.
* Myron Scholes, (1941 - ),is a Nobel Laureate in Economics, 1997. He is currently affiliated with Stanford University. [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1997/scholes-autobio.html Myron S. Scholes, "Autobiography"] , in "The Nobel Prizes 1997", Editor Tore Frängsmyr, [Nobel Foundation] , Stockholm, 1998]
* Martin Short, (1950 - ), is an Emmy Award-nominated Canadian-American comedian, actor, writer, singer and producer. [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001737/bio Martin Short (I) - Biography ] ]
* Steve Staios, (1973 - ), is a Canadian professional NHL hockey player and member of the Edmonton Oilers.
* Shona Thorburn, (1982 - ), is a professional basketball player, a point guard for the Seattle Storm of the WNBA. cite press release| title = Celebrity High: Westdale Secondary Alumni| publisher = The Hamilton Spectator| date = 2006-05-19| url = http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1147989017565&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815| accessdate = 2007-05-04]
* Brian Williams, (1946 - ), is a Canadian sportscaster who is best known for his coverage of the Olympic Games.
* Jim Young, (1943 - ), is a former professional American football and Canadian football player.

External links

* [http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/westdale/index.html Westdale Secondary School official website]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=&ie=UTF8&ll=43.260089,-79.901505&spn=0.003289,0.007317&t=k&om=1 Google Satellite Photo]
* [http://www.mywestdale.com/ MyWestdale - Westdale schools alumni directory]
* [http://www.westdalehelps.org Westdale Helps]
* [http://www.flickr.com/groups/westdale/ Westdale Alumni Flickr Group]

References