Rockway Mennonite Collegiate
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Rockway Mennonite Collegiate is a small, private Mennonite high school located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It offers academic programs for grade 6-12 students.
Despite its name, usually only about half of its students are actually Mennonite. The students that are Mennonite are part of the mainstream Canadian Mennonite church and are not Old-Order Mennonites. Unlike the popular stereotype, the school is equipped with modern amenities such as computers, LCD projectors, and a mobile scissor lift platform.
The school prides itself on providing a more rigorous educational experience than public schools in that area which is why many of the students are not actually Mennonite. The school has a strong exchange program with China, hosting many Chinese students every year and supporting a number of senior high school students in travelling to China. Rockway also attracts students from Germany, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the United States and many other countries, with roughly 10% of its 400 students coming from outside of Canada. Rockway offers support to these students by arranging host families for them to live with, has an international students club, and offers English as a second language classes.
Rockway also features excellent sports teams, including cross-country, badminton, chess, soccer, and wrestling. However, it's focus sports are basketball and volleyball, in which school teams excel. Rockway remains competitive with much larger schools.
The school has an emphasis on service, sponsoring an Envirathon/Servathon fundraiser on a yearly basis and encouraging students to get involved in their communities. Also, the school collects cans every Christmas for a local non-profit organisation in what is believed to be the largest food drive of any high school in the province of Ontario. The music program is also highly regarded, participating in national Mennonite choral festivals and producing a musical every fall. The Rockway High School Improv Team competed in the National Festival of the Canadian Improv Games in 2004 and 2005.
