Lisgar Collegiate Institute

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Lisgar Collegiate Institute
Alere Flammam
Nourish the Flame
Address
29 Lisgar Street
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 0B9, Canada
Information
School board Ottawa Carleton District School Board
Religious affiliation none
Principal Karen Gledhill
Vice principal Susan Smith,
Mark Goebel
Enrollment 1150
Homepage http://www.lisgar.ca
Lisgar Collegiate Institute
Lisgar Collegiate Institute
Ottawa Collegiate Institute c. 1875 - 1880
Ottawa Collegiate Institute c. 1875 - 1880
View of Lisgar from the Mall
View of Lisgar from the Mall

Lisgar Collegiate Institute is an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board secondary school in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Lisgar is located in downtown Ottawa by the Rideau Canal. It is just blocks from Canada's Parliament Hill. The school serves the neighbourhoods of Sandy Hill, New Edinburgh, Centretown, Rockcliffe Park, Westboro, the Glebe, and has many students from other areas. The school is also known for its gifted student program. It is one of the country's best regarded public schools.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1843, a grammar school was opened in the Centretown area of Ottawa in a house at the corner of Waller and Daly streets with 40 paying students. In 1859, the school was one of the first in Ontario to admit girls. The school changed locations several times in the first few years, and was renamed Bytown Grammar School, and later Ottawa Grammar School. In 1871 the school was raised to a high school and in 1873 to a collegiate institute becoming Ottawa Collegiate Institute.

The school got a permanent home in 1873 when a lot at what was then the southern edge of the city, was purchased. The school board acquired the land on Biddy Street for C$3,200 and paid a squatter C$100 to give up any claims on the land. (Biddy Street was renamed Lisgar street in 1880 after Lord Lisgar Canada's second Governor-General. A Gothic Revival style structure, designed by W.T. Thomas and W. Chesterton, was built at a cost of C$26,000. Governor General Lord Dufferin laid the cornerstone and the school opened in 1874.

In 1892, the school was the first public secondary school in Ontario to hire a female teacher. Four new classrooms were added on the south side in 1892, but a fire in 1893 caused the school to be temporarily closed. In 1903, the east wing was built with eight new classrooms and in 1908 the west wing with laboratories and an auditorium was added in 1908. A rifle range for the cadet corps was added in 1912, and a cafeteria in 1923. In 1922, After the school was split to form Glebe Collegiate Institute, OCI was renamed Ottawa Lisgar Street Collegiate Institute which soon was shortened to Lisgar Collegiate Institute. Officially the school remained named OCI for several decades. Since the split, the two schools have been traditional rivals.

In 1951, a new gymnasium was built across the street with a connecting tunnel. This building was enlarged in 1962. The old gym was turned into what is now the cafeteria. The two building are now referred to as the North and South buildings.

In 1957, Lisgar was the first school in Ontario to introduce a special program for gifted students.

In the 1970s, a cash-strapped Ottawa Board of Education decided to close the school and sell its valuable downtown real estate. This action was blocked by community members and alumni.

In 1996, the third floor of the building was completely redone and the science labs were modernized. In March of 2003, parts of the first, second, and basement floors of the main building were damaged by a water leak. Some minor changes were made to the first floor in the reconstruction.

Students have frequently placed highly in mathematics competitions. For instance, they have frequently placed in the top ten amongst Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Winners.

Lisgar has been the "home" of the Ottawa-Carleton Educational Space Simulation since 1990. It is worth noting that the school is the only school in the area, and one of the few in the province to run such a program. Lisgar was also one of the original members of the now-defunct Student Space Simulation.

It is rumoured that two ghosts reside within Lisgar, which is why the top floor is closed off. One girl was killed in the 1940s by ice falling off the roof, while a janitor was also killed when he fell off of the roof in an unrelated incident. Now Lisgar is a part of the Haunted Walk of Ottawa.

For a complete list of Lisgar's qualitities and test results and other information visit: [1].

[edit] Music Department

Lisgar's Music Department has been one of the strongest in the City of Ottawa for decades. They not only have a very well-regarded program for wind instruments, but they also offer a one of a kind program for string instruments, as well as theory courses at the Advanced Placement (University Year 1) level. They have won an award in almost every Ensemble, Band, Symphony, and Orchestra Category in the Kiwanis Music Festival. Lisgar's Senior Orchestra and Wind Ensemble also frequently travels to distant locations to perform. In March 2003, they visited Beijing, and performed there, and more recently in 2005, they visited Italy and performed there. In March of 2007, they will be performing in Austria and Germany.

[edit] Sports

Lisgar's athletic teams, the Lords, have a long history of excelling in sports. Although Lisgar students focus more on academics, there are many who feel at home in the Lisgar Athletics Department. In the school's gymnasium are various banners in all the different sports (track and field, volleyball, badminton). In 2004, the Sr. Boys Volleyball team, coached by mathematics teacher, Mr. Tang, won City Finals, and continued to go to OFSSAA, where they won the Honourable Mention award for good Sportsmanship.

[edit] Clubs

Lisgar has a wide variety of clubs available to students. The school's best-known clubs throughout the city are Lisgar's Environmental Action Force (LEAF), Ottawa-Carleton Educational Space Simulation (Space Sim), and Kiwanis Educating Youth (KEY). For a complete list of clubs see the school's website.

[edit] Notable alumni

Picture of Anchorman Peter Jennings age 16 from the 1955-1966 Lisgar Yearbook
Picture of Anchorman Peter Jennings age 16 from the 1955-1966 Lisgar Yearbook

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since March 2007.


school image

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board schools

Secondary schools A. Y. Jackson Secondary School · Adult High School · Bell High School · Brookfield High School · Cairine Wilson Secondary School · Canterbury High School · Colonel By Secondary School · Earl of March Secondary School · Glebe Collegiate Institute · Gloucester High School · Hillcrest High School · John McCrae Secondary School · Lisgar Collegiate Institute · Merivale High School · Nepean High School · Osgoode Township High School · Ottawa Technical Learning Centre · Rideau High School · Ridgemont High School · Sir Guy Carleton Secondary School · Sir Robert Borden High School · Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School · South Carleton High School · West Carleton Secondary School · Woodroffe High School
Middle or junior high schools J.H. Putman Public School
Primary or elementary schools Alta Vista Public School



This Ontario school-related article is a stub. See the WikiProject Education in Canada for article coordination. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
This article relating to Ottawa and to Canada's National Capital Region is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../l/i/s/Lisgar_Collegiate_Institute_c904.html"
In other languages