Harbord Collegiate Institute

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Harbord Collegiate Institute
Virtus et Doctrina
Address
286 Harbord St. Toronto, Ontario, M6G 1G5, Canada
Information
School board	Toronto District School Board
Area trustee	Chris Bolton
Principal	Mary Jane McNamara
Vice principal	Susana Arnott
School type	High school
Grades	9-12
Language	English, French
Mascot	Tiger
Team name	Harbord Tigers
Colours	Orange and Black
Founded	1892
Enrollment	Approx. 1000 students
Homepage	http://www.harbordci.ca/

Harbord Collegiate Institute (also known as either Harbord or HCI for short) is a public secondary school located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school is located at the southwestern edge of the Mirvish Village neighbourhood, situated on Harbord Street, between Euclid Ave. and Manning St. The school has long strived for and maintained a reputation for academic excellence. Currently, the school has approximately 1000 students enrolled and over 50 faculty members.

[edit] History

Harbord was opened in 1892 as Harbord Street Collegiate Institute. Since then, Harbord has had many important events.

[edit] Harbord's First Centennial

Harbord's first centennial was celebrated in 1992. This celebration included the inauguration of the Harbord museum, which is a repository of Harbord memorabilia. To mark this major event, Harbord's alumni group, the Harbord Club, published a 300-page history of the school entitled The Happy Ghosts of Harbord, which traces the history of the school from its opening 1892 to 1992. The book is still available.

[edit] Remembrance Day 2005

On November 11, 2005, a huge Remembrance Day ceremony took place at Harbord. With the donations from the W. Garfield Weston Foundation and many other corporate sponsors and individuals, the rededication of the 1921 World War I monument back to its original splendor was held. The master of ceremony was Syd Moscoe while poignant addresses were given by President of George Weston Ltd. Galen Weston, former Minister of Defence Barney Danson, Canadian Armed Services Chief of Land Staff Lieutenant-General Marc Caron, and Chairperson of the TDSB Sheila Ward. Harbord's Jazz Band played a piece written by band teacher Mr. Alberts, called On Remembrance Day. The Cantemus Choir also performed and poems written by students Kevin Tung and Michael Lee were read. The Last Post was played by David Chou, which was followed by a moment of silence. The ceremony ended with a picture that was taken of the students, teachers, alumni and neighbours all standing in front of the school.

[edit] Harbord Club

The Harbord Club is the longest continuous high school alumni group in Canada with over 2600 members. It was established in 1978 by Elsie Affleck, who brought along other alumni including Ken Prentice, Willie Zimmerman, Johnny Wayne, Max Goldhar and Julius Molinaro. The Harbordite, founded in 1979, is the Harbord Club newsletter that keeps former students of the school in contact with one another and up-to-date on Harbord activities. The Harbord Charitable Foundation was also created at this time, supporting both student scholarships and alumni activities. Currently, the president of the Harbord Club is Annie Kwong.

[edit] Notable graduates

Famous Comedy Duo Wayne and Shuster both met as high school students at Harbord

Since Harbord opened its doors in 1892, there have been many graduates over the years that have achieved/are achieving remarkable accomplishments.

[edit] Overview

[edit] Day to Day Schedules

First to third year students must take 8 courses to fill up a schedule, while students in their fourth or possibly fifth years are allowed to take less courses as required for a Ontario Secondary School Diploma. The school is non-semestered, so all selected courses are in the schedule.

Harbord runs on a four day schedule, with each day labeled Days 1 through 4. Days 1 and 3 contain the same 4 courses; however, the 2 morning classes in Day 3 are flipped when compared to Day 1, as are the 2 classes in the afternoon and the same applies to Days 2 and 4. These four days are then cycled in order to make up a students schedule. Tests are only allowed if the class is the first class in the morning or the first class after lunch. This ensures that students do not have more than two tests a day, hence the necessity of Day 3 and 4. Any block in the schedule without a course is called a spare.

"Silent Sustained Reading" or SSR is a time block in between the first and second periods of the day in which everyone, students, teachers, and administration, all read for 20 minutes. During this time no one is allowed in the hallways and everyone has to remain quiet. This period of time is intended to give students and teachers a chance to pick up a book and read. This is the third 3rd school year that SSR has been in place.

The schedule is as follows:

[edit] Exams

There are two exam periods a year at Harbord, one in December before the Winter break, and one in June before the summer break. During these exam periods, there are no classes, and students will only need to go to school to write their exams as needed. In total, there are 10 combined exam days in a school year. Due to the school being non-semestered, a student could have 8 exams to write during an exam period, instead of 4 in a semestered school. Exams in June may be part of the 30% required Summative Evaluation. Two report cards are given out after these exam periods, and also once in November.

[edit] Multiculturalism

HCI before 1932

Harbord has been a multicultural school for many years. From the 1920s to the 1950s, about 90 percent of the student body was Jewish and many prominent Jewish Canadians had attended Harbord. Today, the student body consists, but is not limited to students of Chinese and Portuguese descent, which is representative of the surrounding neighbourhoods. Many of the clubs at Harbord are reflective of the ethnic groups present. Harbord is well known for its language program, offering courses in Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, Latin, French and Portuguese. Such courses allow students to learn basic language structure and conversation skills in these languages.

Harbord has 3 French programs to choose from, Immersion, Extended or Core. This gives students the opportunity to become bilingual in Canada's official languages. Now, there is even a French Club within Harbord.

Harbord has a full ESL program to help all students new to Canada learn English. Harbord also has an International Club to help the students get used to Toronto and the new environment. The club has many activities throughout the year to help new students get involved in the school and give them the chance to socialize with other students in the school.

[edit] Clubs

Please help improve this article by expanding this section. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. Please remove this message once the section has been expanded. This article has been tagged since January 2007.

Harbord has a variety of clubs. With over 40 clubs, there's one for every student.

[edit] Student Activity Council

The Student Activity Council, better known as SAC, is the largest student run organization at Harbord, which is run by dedicated and involved individuals who wish to make your stay at Harbord more enjoyable. These students are participants of athletics, the arts, and everything in between, and are therefore very representative of Harbord Collegiate's population.

They organize special activities such as semi-formals, activity days, and spirit weeks. They also hold Movie Nights, and Talent Shows throughout the year, as well as two barbeques: the Welcome Back Barbeque at the beginning of the year, and the Farewell Barbeque at the end of the year. Both barbeques take place outdoors with great food, a live D.J., and live entertainment, and is a chance for both students and teachers to have fun and relax.

In order to fund for these activities, students purchase a SAC card from the Student Council at the beginning of the year, which allows students to join clubs and teams, and entitles each student to a yearbook. Using the money collected, SAC distributes the money from these cards to support and fund most of the school teams, clubs, and activities within the school. While maintaining a great reputation with the Administration and Harbord staff, this year's Student Council is looking forward.

Currently, the President of Harbord's Student Council is Rajithan Ithayalingam. Presidents of SAC in the past include Martyna Bocian, Gia Milne-Allan, and Max Kerman. The new teacher advisor of SAC starting this year is Ms. Williams. Ms. Clark, now retired was the teacher advisor for many years prior to her retirement.

Other representatives within the Student Council include Class Representatives, a representative from the Athletic Association, a representative from the Creative Arts, and finally, a representative from the school newspaper, Tiger Talk.

[edit] Creative Arts Council

The Creative Arts Council, also known as CAC, is consists of music, art and drama students that work together to improve the school's Creative Arts program. This council was created three years ago, when the music council was restructured to include students in the disciplines of visual arts and drama. For all three years the teacher advisor of the council has been Ms. Renata Todros, also head of the Music and Arts department.

The group of CAC members is involved with all events that have Arts students involved. These events include: the Awards Assembly, Remembrance Ceremony, Holiday Assembly, Feeder School Concert, Musical Theatre Performance, Junior and Senior Spring Concerts and Showcases. Besides events, CAC also organized fundraisers to raise money for better instruments and supplies for the Arts students at Harbord.

At the end of the school year, all the members of the council help to plan a CAC banquet. It is for sure an unforgettable night, where outstanding participation as well as talent is recognized and awards are given. Great food and dancing is also on the program for that special night.

The current president of Harbord's Creative Arts Council is David Cheung. Presidents of CAC in the past include Rajithan Ithayalingam, Natalie Maxwell and Mary Margaret Wood. Ms. Renata Todros is the teacher advisor of CAC and has been since the start. Other teachers involved in CAC are Mr. Ross and Ms. Martin.

In previous years, there were many other positions including: Fundraising Co-ordinators, Banquet Co-ordinator, Senior Concert Co-ordinator, Junior Concert Co-odinator, Public Relation Officers and also Year reps in place of department reps.

[edit] Boys and Girls Athletic Association

The Boys Athletic Association, also known as the BAA, and the Girls Athletic Association, also known as the GAA, are two different clubs in Harbord that work closely together to organise most athletic events, such as the athletic banquet and intramurals.

The current president of BAA is Kevin Tung and the current president of GAA is Amy Chong.

[edit] Break Dancing Club

Harbords very first Break Dancing Club was Recently Created. The president of the club is the skillful James Hsiao, and the Vice-President is the strong man Austin Hung and with strong determination formed this club for the school and giving students from Harbord Collegiate Institute the chances to learn about break dancing. Therefore we will be more than happy to accept any information about the art. Popping, locking, tutting, roboting, freestyling, or beat boxing are freely wide-ranged expressive to those multi-talent students who are interested in those. Practices will be held once or twice a week in the MPR. We will be supervised by the talent and experienced Mr. Baker. If you are interested in learning a few things or willing to show ur skills drop by because all serious students are welcome.

[edit] Comic Book Club

The Comic Book Club is a newly created club at Harbord. The members within, who most wish to be called Nhanites, meet every Tuesday during the lunch break at their headquarters, The Hall of Justice (room 210). To raise money for their super-human sexual needs, they have been holding fundraisers such as "The Unofficial Super Smash Bros. Melee 4 Stock Doubles Tournament of Justice" (TUSSBM4SDTOJ for short).

The founders and current co-presidents of the Comic Book Club are Daniel "King Kwan" Kwan, Eduardo "Wardo" Brandao, and Victor "the Victor" Nhan. The teacher advisor is Mr. Morgan, the space pirate with flaming balls of fury.

[edit] Rivalry with ESP

The feud between the Comic Book Club and the Empowered Student Partnership (ESP) is a tale as old as time. It started when the ESP leaders, Raji whatever-his-last-name-is and Linda Au Yeung, first discovered their psychic powers and made the school glorify their names by appointing them heads of such groups as SAC and CAC, the two largest school organizations. The leaders and ultimate Nhanites, King Kwan and the Victor, have been known to send their minions to watch the ESP because, although they also have powers and use them for good, the Nhanites have cooler powers (which are to make a person's head asplode when thinking dirty thoughts about them (King Kwan) and to hit it... with a stick (the Victor)) and do not trust them. This also didn't fly with King Kwan and the Victor because for the longest time ever, these two heroes have been protecting the school secretly under their aliases, not once asking for anything in return. However, under the newly created Superhuman Registration Act, the two Nhanites were forced to reveal their identities in a shocking meeting that involved lunch and Adam West as Batman.

When the psychic leaders of the school heard of the news, they quickly confronted the two heroes and stated, "This school is only big enough for one pair of crime fighters." The two sides fought valiantly, but it ended when the ultimate Nhanites' mentor, Mr. Morgan, swooped down from space and forced his balls of fury on Raji and Linda's faces. He told both quarreling sides to live at peace with one another or to face his fury. At that moment, Morgan unleashed his true powers which was so terribly horrendous that those who looked upon it (Linda and Raji), never touched themselves again. Luckily for King Kwan and the Victor, they knew of their mentor's devastating powers and turned away. The feud still continues, but the two teams have been able to work cooperatively for the safety of the school.

[edit] Debating Society

The Harbord Debating Society is a place to enhance students’ political awareness as well as their oratorical skills. The society is open to all Harbord students. The topics range from school uniform to George W. Bush's policies, from gay marriage to NAFTA. Each year, students participate in various tournaments, such as the Ontario Model Parliament and the Southern Ontario Model United Nations Assembly. The club has many enthusiastic and capable members, and a dedicated Mr. Harrison as its staff advisor.

The current chairs of the Debating Society are Jimmy Lu, Allison Lee and Yunus Mohamed.

[edit] Empowered Student Partnership (ESP)

The Empowered Student Partnership is a new club at Harbord that works with the TDSB, the Toronto Police Service and the Toronto Catholic District School Board to make the school and the community a safer and better place. They work towards minimizing violence, drug use, graffiti, guns and racism. The teacher advisor is Mrs. Townsend and the club was also strongly supported by vice-principal Mr. Mirza. Since the departure of Mr. Mirza and the establishment of the Argonauts Huddle-up Against Bullying Committee, ESP has yet to be started up for this year.

The co-presidents of ESP for the year 2005-2006 were Rajithan Ithayalingam and Linda Au-Yeung.

[edit] French Club

The French Club is dedicated to imporoving the Francophone population at Harbord. Originally started by Mme Berezowsky, the French club was a very small club at Harbord. After her departure from Harbord, the French club was restarted by the new president Selina Mohabir. During the 2005-2006 school year, the French club held a number of fundraisers, which included outings to Café Crêpe (a restaurant in Toronto). Although predominantly consisting of Francophones, the French club is attracting many other students through their events. The teacher advisor of the club now is Mr. R Leblanc.

[edit] Green Club

The Green Club (A.K.A. "E.A.P.S.") is a group of enthusiastic students committed to the improvement and the awareness of the environment problems around the school, and to change the school and make it more environmentally friendly. The Green Club currently is working on the "Watt Wise" program which monitors the energy consumption of different school electrical equipment and to try and see if energy use around the school could be reduced. The Green Club has also a couple of fundraiser in development to raise money to fix the solar panel on the roof that is currently inoperative, and also plans on revamping the Green House.

The president and co-founder of the Green Club is Alison Lee.

[edit] History Club

The History Club is composed of students who recognize and promote Harbord's rich history. The club was created only recently, but gained recognition after helping to organize the 2006 Remembrance Day assembly. The current goals of the History Club are to care for and update the Harbord Museum, to work on the possible creation of a Harbord History course, which has been suggested by alumni, and to recruit more members. The club is currently co-presidented by founders Caitlin Stewart and Lidia Likhodi; Nariné Martiros-Gharakhanian is a publicly prominent and active member.

[edit] Key Club

The Key Club does not make keys, in fact KEY stands for Kiwanis Educating Youths. As a student-led organization, the Key Club builds character and develops leadership while we give back to our home, school and community. Key Club has volunteered for Epilepsy Toronto, Canadian Cancer Society, The Liver Foundation, Heart & Stroke Foundation, Canadian National Institute for the Blind and the Salvation Army. For the past 2 years, the Key Club has partnered with the Toronto Western Hospital in its patient visiting program. If you are looking into getting some volunteer hours fast, the Key Club is the club that makes it happen.

The current president of the Key Club is Natalie Maxwell. Presidents of Key club in the past include Lisa Tai & Uyen Tran, Stacy Nunes, and Linda Lin.

[edit] Robotics Team

This is a team dedicated to competing in various international competitions such as the FIRST Robotics Competition and the FIRST Vex Challenge. The team name of the Robotics Club is Tiger Techs, or T2 for short. The registered team number for Tiger Techs is 919 in all robotics challenges organized by FIRST. This club has been in existence for over five years and has built many a successful robot. In 2006, the team proudly ranked 31 out 74 in the Greater Toronto Regional. The teachers involved in the 2006/2007 Robotics Club are Mr. Hulays, Mr. McIntyre, Mr. Sangha, Mr. Lee. and Ms. Townsend.

[edit] Tigerline Announcements

This savvy group of motivators informs the school of events and essential student/teacher info. The current president, Hannah Fogel, an Italian-Jewish very motivated and dedicated leader, has called the shots for about two years with the help of vice-president Agnese Nunno, an Italian-Aboriginal, and active member Paolo Frasca, an Italian ex-ESL student. Tristan Parlette, Karen Rao, Sharmin Tafeder, Nicole Lee and many others are also part of the team and essential members. The team is mostly committed to announce important meetings in the school, or events, also, Happy-Birthays can be given through the T.A. team for the cost of 50cents. The team also leads after-lunch get to class warnings and national enthems, followed by inspiring quotes.

[edit] Tiger Talk

Tiger Talk is Harbord's official newspaper. It is sectioned into five categories: School, Sports, World Issues, Entertainment and Miscellaneous. It covers many topics in and out of the school environment. It has been a great source of information for Harbordites for many years.

The current Head Editors of Tiger Talk are Alexandra Papaelias and Cindy Tang. Past head editors include: Tiffany Buckingham, Connie Kuan and Lisa Yuan.

[edit] Other clubs

Here is a (incomplete) list of other various other clubs offered at Harbord:

[edit] Sports

Harbord has a wide variety of sport teams, coached and managed by many members of the faculty and sometimes with help of old students of Harbord.

Here is a list of sport teams offered at Harbord:

[edit] Music program

Harbord has a very wide range of musical opportunities. At Harbord, the head of the Music Department is Mrs. Todros. Other teachers in the department include Mrs. Martin and Mr. Alberts.

[edit] Band

Band is taught by Mr. Alberts and Mrs. Martin. The band program goes from the Grade 9 Beginner Band to the Grade 12 Senior Band. Harbord's Jazz Band is conducted by Mr. Alberts and is comprised of the most experienced band players in the school. Their practices are early in the morning and therefore require a lot of dedication. The senior band is also taught by Mr. Alberts, while Mrs. Martin teaches the Junior Band class. Instruments in band include flute, clarinet, saxophone, French horn, trombone, tuba, bass guitar, keyboard, drums, baritone and trumpet. The band performs at assemblies and concerts which includes the Remembrance Ceremony, Senior Showcase, Feeder School Concert, Commencement and the Farewell Assembly.

[edit] Vocal

Vocal is taught by Mrs. Todros. The classes range from Grade 9 Beginner Vocal to Senior Vocal. There is also a Cantemus Choir at Harbord that sings for many events inside and outside of Harbord. This Choir won Second Place at this year's Kiwanis Festival.

[edit] Strings

Strings is taught by Mrs. Todros. She teaches the Grade 9 Beginner Strings, the Junior Strings and the Senior Strings. Instruments available for strings at Harbord include: violin, viola, cello and bass. Strings are a very difficult instrument to play, as any instrument is, and the students that take part in this are highly dedicated and passionate. Harbord's String Quarter won First Prize at last year's Kiwanis Festival. The Chamber Orchestra has performed at other venues such as Massey Hall, and George Weston Hall. The Strings Chamber Orchestra plays at school events such as the Awards Assembly, Feeder School Concert and Senior Concert, and from time to time, accompanies the Cantemus Choir.

[edit] Staff

Besides the students, the staff are the most important people in the school.

[edit] School spirit

School spirit is shown off in many ways at Harbord Collegiate Institute. Councils such as the Student Activity Council, the Creative Arts Council, the Boys Athletic Association, the Girls Athletic Association, and Key Club all have their very own uniforms for their respected members to wear. These uniforms are purchased by the students and are worn to meetings and at events that their council is leading.

School spirit is also shown by clothing that the Boys Athletic Association sells annually. They sell everything from sweaters, to shirts, to sweat pants, and it can all be personalized while having Harbord on the front in big, bold letters. Students that take part in athletics at Harbord wear uniforms, and this year, most of which is personalized. Their outstanding school spirit by sporting the orange black while participating in extracurricular activities does not go unnoticed.

Finally, Harbord's Student Council holds Spirit Weeks throughout the course of a school year for students to take part in. These weeks, running from Monday to Friday, include fun days such as Pajama Day, Twin Day, and even Backwards Day. This year, since the first Spirit Week was in late October, there was a day that was dedicated to Halloween. Wondeful costumes were worn on this day, and most definitely revealed Harbord's school spirit!

Harbord School Shield

[edit] Symbols of Harbord

A lot of recognisable symbols can be linked to Harbord. Harbord's official slogan is "Virtus et Doctrina." Harbord has an official coat of arms, shown at right.

Harbord's official mascot is the tiger. A Tiger can be seen in the middle of the gym floor which is familiar to all of Harbord's students. A tiger can also be found on team uniforms. Harbord's official colours are orange and black, which are based on the colours of a tiger.

[edit] Onward Harbord

Onward Harbord is Harbord's official song, it is sung along with the school band playing at the same time. Generally at the behest of the principal ("One more time!"), the song gets sung twice. The lyrics are as follows:

[edit] See also

• List of educational institutions in Toronto
• List of oldest buildings and structures in Toronto

[edit] External links

• Harbord Collegiate Institute
• Harbord Club (Alumni Association)
• Harbord On YouTube