Collège Bourget

Collège Bourget is a Roman Catholic French-language private school and former classical college in Rigaud, Quebec, Canada operated by the Clerics of Saint Viator. It was founded in 1850, and is named after Ignace Bourget, bishop of Montreal from 1840 until 1876. Despite its former religious involvements, the students are no longer obliged to practice Catholicism or any other religions, although it appears that a good amount of the school members are catholic.
Bourget has about 1100 day students, and some 250 boarders, including a few foreign students such as South Africans, South and Central Americans, notably Mexicans. The principal is Jean-Marc St-Jacques, c.s.v. The sports elites of Bourget are named The Voltigeurs.

Transportation

Perhaps more than 90% of Bourget's students come from outside the small town of Rigaud. Therefore, more than 20 school buses travel on the road across nearby areas in order to bring students into school every morning and back home in the afternoon. On Friday afternoons, a few extra bus drivers have to go across Southern Quebec and South-Eastern Ontario to bring boarding students home, and pick them up once again on Sunday nights/Monday mornings and bring them back in school.

School grounds

The Main Building: This is the largest building of the school, and the most important since it contains most of the major offices. It shares with other buildings the infirmary and the cafeteria. This is also where classes and most activities for primary and secondary 1, 2 and 3 students are held. Secondary 1 and 2 boarding girls reside in a large dormitory on the 4th floor of this building, each having an individual cubicle, furnished with a small dressing cabinet and a single bed. Secondary 3, 4 and 5 boarding girls have individual/shared rooms, which are also located on the 4th floor of the building, but separated from the younger girls.
The Querbes Building: This is the building dedicated to the classrooms of secondary 4 and 5 students—the seniors. In order to separate the boarding girls and boys, all boys, from secondary 1 to 5, live in this building. There are normally two boys in a medium-sized room, with two beds, tables, cabinets and a sink, but if desired, the possibility of being alone may be permitted.
The Sports Building: College Bourget is known for its athleticism. It has three gymnasia, an ice-skating arena, a fully equipped physical training room,a climbing wall and a semi-Olympic-size pool. The campus also features the following outdoor facilities: baseball fields, recreation yards, a football field, two soccer field and two tennis courts.

Notable alumni

• Gustave Évanturel, an Ontario notary public, insurance executive and political figure.
• Edmond Proulx, an Ontario lawyer and politician.
• Joseph Tassé, a Canadian writer, translator, and parliamentarian
• Etienne Deutsch, a notable Canadian student

References

• Lamarche, Gustave, Le Collège sur la colline : petit historique du Collège Bourget de Rigaud / Gustave Lamarche... ; orné de six dessins de maisons et de trois lettrines en couleurs par le P. Jean-René Goulet... ; [illustration réalisée par le P. Antonin Lamarche...]. Rigaud : Edition de l'Echo de Bourget, 1951. 197 p. : ill. (certaines en coul.), plans, portr. ; 23 cm.
• Auclair, Élie-J. Rigaud-de-Vaudreuil et son Collège Bourget, 1941, 40p. Etude présentée à la Société royale, session de mai 1941, par l'abbé Elie-J. Auclair, docteur en théologie et en droit canonique, de la Société royale du Canada, de la Société historique de Montréal et de la Société historique de Rigaud.
• The Quebec History Encyclopedia – Collège Bourget, Rigaud, P.Q. Reproducing the text from: Vedette, 1952. Le fait français au Canada. Première édition, Montréal, Société nouvelle de publicité, 1953, 717p., pp. 553-554.
• Séguin, Raymond. Bourget, au quotidien--, [1850-2000]. [Rigaud : Collège Bourget, [*21 doc.] 2000] 242 p. : ill., portr. ; 25 cm. ISBN 2-920233-05-X

External links

• Collège Bourget Official site.