Westmount Secondary School

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Westmount Secondary School
Address
39 Montcalm Drive
Hamilton, Ontario, L9C 4B1, Canada
Information
School number 952478
Principal Mrs. Margaret Bowman
Vice principal Mr. Jamie Nunn
School type High school
Grades 9-12
Motto Laboris Dulcedo (Excellence)
Mascot The Westmount Wildcats
Homepage http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/westmount/

Westmount Secondary School is a school in Ward 8 of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The school is known for its unique self-paced learning programme.

Contents

[edit] Students

As of the 2006-07 school year, there are approximately 1200 students enrolled at Westmount Secondary School. More than 80 percent of graduates end up going to university or community college - one of the highest among schools in Hamilton. Also, student violence and bullying are low at Westmount, making it a friendly and safe place for learning.

[edit] Curriculum

Westmount is the only school in Hamilton, and one of the very few in Southern Ontario to offer courses in a self-paced learning environment. Each credit course is organized into twenty units with each unit or group of units packaged as a Learning Guide. Students can then work at their own pace through the guides, accelerating when able and taking additional time when needed. Students must still attend school daily but participate at their own pace through the lessons, presentations, and group activities outlined in the Learning Guides. In addition to being allowed to work at their own pace, Westmount students are allowed to sign out of their classrooms with the teacher's permission, and go to another area of the school, such as a different classroom, a computer lab, or the library.

[edit] Teams and Clubs

[edit] Athletics

[edit] Hockey

Coached by J. Timofejew and S. Ormond, the 2005-06 Wildcat hockey team played competitively throughout the regular season, ensuring the team got a playoff berth. After making it to the city finals, Westmount came out on top, beating out Westdale Secondary School for the city championship. In the 2006-2007 season, the team was entered in Division A, and was captained by Lucas Jervis. The womens' hockey team had made it to the city finals in 2007, losing to Delta Secondary School.

[edit] Swimming

The Westmount Wildcats swim team started in 2004-05 and qualified previously unprecedented seven swimmers for the provincial competition. Swimmers on the team are coached by Kelly Wahlman.

Westmount qualified several swimmers for the OFSAA competition in the 2006-07 season.

[edit] Curling

The 2004-05 and 2005-06 Wildcat men's curling team, comprised of Nik Moriopolous, Stephen Lewchuk, Joel Eastwood, and Brad Chapel (with Brandon Halchuk as alternate), won the SOSSA championship, advancing them to OFSAA. The team was coached by Richard Brooks and Martin Cox.

[edit] Track and Field

The Annual Wildcat Invitational Cross-Country Meet is held by Westmount at Churchill Park, hosting over 1000 students from 70 schools in the Southern Ontario region.

[edit] Visual and Performing Arts

[edit] Westmount Music

Headed by Mr. Ted Bohn and Mr. Paul Burnip, Westmount's music program is widely recognized as one of the top music programs in Hamilton. Ensembles include the award-winning Wind Orchestra, various levels of Jazz ensembles, Repertoire Band, Pit Band, Clarinet Choir, Brass Quintet, and a grade nine band. Every year the department not only hosts a silent auction, which raises thousands of dollars for the department to spend on equipment, but also hosts several concerts featuring numerous bands including both junior and senior invitationals. On several occasions, Westmount's Wind Orchestra has also been invited to play at Convocation Hall with bands from McMaster and Cornell Universities. Westmount Music students also have the opportunity to go on several trips with destinations including New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Cleveland.

Westmount Music is always expanding with the incorporation of a vocal program, directed by Ms. Wegner.

[edit] Film Festival

Westmount holds an annual Film Festival, where student-created films are shown to the school. Most are of a high standard, with students putting a siginificant amount of their time and effort into them. Past festival winners include,

2004/2005: No Awards Given
2005/2006: First place: Harrison Cruikshank for "The Magnificent Montage", Second Place: Andrew Scott for "The Unreal War" (also received an award for outstanding visual effects)

[edit] Biannual Theatre Production

Every other year, Westmount's drama department produces a musical. Past productions include,

2002/2003: Annie
2004/2005: The Wiz, starring Samantha Walkes, with Amanda McEwan, Riley Tydd-Whiting, Jenna Lane, and Shawn Stewart
2006/2007: Oliver!, starring Nikki Campbell, with Colin Palangio, Samantha Walkes, Jeremy Gleeson, and Riley Tydd-Whiting.

[edit] Ontario Sear's Festival

Every year, Westmount's drama teacher enters a group of students in the Ontario Sear's Festival. Previous entries include:

2003/2004: Hedges, starring Sarah Beaudin, Mart Birthelmer, James Beattie, Cameron Lapp, Annalee Flint
2004/2005: Variations on the Death of Trotsky, starring Marty Birthelmer, Annalee Flint, Nikoletta Popodopalos, Sarah Beaudin, Julia Turner, Jorden Hazel
2004/2005: Cameras, directed by Amanda McEwan and starring Amanda McEwan, David Walpole, Jessica Hinkley, Julia Turner, Marty Birthelmer, Shawn Stewart, Samantha Walkes
2005/2006: The Potman Spoke Sooth, directed by Amanda Harvel and starring, Sarah Beaudin, Cameron Lapp, Stephen Alphonse, Annalee Flint, Riley Tydd-Whiting, Jessica Hinkley, Aaron Lupton, Alana Easto, Mike Vegh, Coli Palangio, and Samantha Wlakes
2005/2006: What. Tragedy?, written by Leah Eke, Amber Passchier, Brendan Wilson, directed by Amber Passchier and starring Leah Eke, Amber Passchier, Brendan Wilson, Cameron Lapp, Jamie Burton, Anthony Fascione.
2006/2007: Do Not Go Gentle, starring Julia Turner, Nikki Campbell, Riley Tydd-Whiting, Melissa Mrmak, Alana Easto and Jenna Elzein.

[edit] Clubs

[edit] Reach for the Top

In the 2003-2004 school year, Westmount's senior Reach for the Top performed well in the regional competition, advancing them to the provincial level. The team was coached by librarian Stephen Sawford and English teacher Gregory Clark, and captained by Jay Misuk, with five other members on the team. The 2007 Senior Reach Team consists of Cayle Lackten, Ben DiFrancesco, Saswat Mohanty, Alexandra Mayhew, Joel Eastwood, Ray Flores, and Faraz Lalji. The Intermediate Reach Team is coached by Mr. Eckart. The team consists of Nicole Nicolson, Allison Chewter, Tristan DiFrancesco, Mark Feather, Elyse Airth, and Phil Crusto. The season runs from September until April.

[edit] Environmental Club

Westmount received a small grant for 2004-2005 from the Hamilton Community Foundation's Protecting Our Environment Together: Youth Focus grants for their Greening of Westmount project. Currently, the club goes around the school on a weekly basis to the empty recycling bins in the school. Other projects include reducing the amount of time cars spend idling outside the school during drop-off and pick-up times, planting more trees around the school, and advocating for a new bike rack.

[edit] Programming Team

Westmount sends two programming teams annually to compete in the ECOO programming contest against teams from various schools across the board. In the 2004-05 year, the first team consisted of Andrew Song, Steven Wu, and Gwynneth Leece, with the second team being Andrew Dunham and Daniel Aquila. The first team finished in 4th place, just out of the podium, with the second team finishing 9th. In the 2005-06 contest, the first team remained the same, while Dan Aquila left the second team and was replaced by Ryan Gandt. This year, the first team scored first in the boardwide competition, with the second team placing in 5th place. Because of their success, the first team was invited to participate in the regional competition, finishing 4th overall. Subsequent success led them to the provincial competition held at York University, in which they managed to finish 11th in the province.

[edit] Positive Space

Westmount's Positive Space initiative begins with the premise that students have a right to an education which is free of discrimination and harassment of any kind, including differences which may be attributed to intersections of identity, including but not limited to sexual orientation, gender, race, class, and religion.

It also recognizes that both staff and students require information and resources to help create a school environment in which all feel safe. Part of its objective is to eliminate barriers that impede a student’s success because of his/her identity, and to provide staff with the tools they require to be responsive to these barriers in both public and private school spaces.

Positive Space is a student-lead initiative supervised by Susan Corrigan.

[edit] The Westmount Wire

The Westmount Wire was formally the school's "alternative" newspaper. With the folding of "Paw Prints" in 2006, it became the only student-published paper in the school, though the title "alternative" is still used. The covers always feature a target, with only the colours changing from month to month. Other consistent stylistic elements include a lack of capitals in article titles and simplistic, "mod" graphics. Frequently occurring articles include "The Wire Salutes...", "Ask Waldo", and "Get a...", with several other commonly occurring themes, including praise of the television show CSI, various references to yogurt, and the appearance of the terms "new wave" and "alternative" at seemingly random intervals within the writings of the editors. The current co-editors are Charlotte Currie and Claire Skinner, though September 2007 will see the paper entering changing editors. The Wire is released monthly, and is priced at fifty cents. One of the wire's numerous attractions is that there are no meetings. This is felt by all to not only be extremely convenient, but extremely "new wave" as well.

[edit] Social Justice Club

Westmount's Social Justice is an association of students from all grades committed to bringing attention to and working to resolve social justice issues including (but not limited to) the environment, anti-war protesting, international genocide and globalization/corporatism. They meet every Friday in room 208 at lunch to discuss these issues and plan events. They are strong believers of peaceful activism and "guerilla marketing". Members try to minimize the environmental impact of the club's initiatives by making very small posters and using only organic, locally grown, fair trade beet juice when writing large messages in the snow.

[edit] Events

[edit] Stay-Awake-A-Thon

One of the charitable events Westmount staff and students hold is the yearly Stay-awake-a-thon. Prior to the event, participating students are asked to collect pledges for the McMaster Children's Hospital, with a minimum pledge total of 40 CAD in order to participate. The event officially takes place after classes for the day have finished, where students remain in the school throughout the night until the following day at 07:00 - traditionally this begins after classes on a Friday afternoon and ends on a Saturday morning. During this time, teacher-supervisors come in and rotate shifts, monitoring the various areas open to the students during the night. Also, students are asked to bring one food item for the potluck dinner served during the evening. After everyone has eaten dinner, a variety of activities are available for the students to participate in, including games, karaoke, dances, organized and pick-up sports, movies, internet browsing, and anything else the students can think of, within reason. Through this event, Westmount has been able to donate thousands of dollars towards the local children's hospital.

[edit] Westfest

Every year, Westmount holds a festival for its own students and students attending the two feeder schools, Westview Middle School and Westwood Elementary School. Food and activities are provided, including mock sumo wrestling and a moonwalk.

[edit] Issues

[edit] Religious Groups at Westmount

Westmount courted controversy when, in 2004, it banned a Christian club formed by students at the school. The school, along with the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, cited the Ontario Education Act, which they interpreted as prohibiting religious activities during school hours. This included lunch time, when the group met. Other schools within the same board allowed for inclusion of various religious minorities, yet Westmount's administration was persistent with its stance. Parents of the students threatened to sue the school for violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Meanwhile Muslim students, who were also forced to disband, reverted to board level talks to resolve the issue. The school attempted to compromise and, after various meetings held between board officials and community representatives, the conflict was resolved. Both Muslim and Christian groups continue to have their religious programs at Westmount.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

    [edit] Sources

    [edit] External links

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