Merivale High School

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Merivale High School
Address
1755 Merivale Road
Ottawa, Ontario, K2G 1E2, Canada
Information
School board Ottawa Carleton District School Board
Principal Patrick McCarthy
Vice principal Mark Harris
Kerry Wiltse
Grades 9 to 12
Campus Suburban
Motto Moniti Meliora
Team name Marauders
Colours blue, gold, maroon, white[1]
Founded 1964
Homepage http://www.merivalehighschool.org
Merivale High School
Merivale High School

Merivale High School (MHS) is a secondary school, located at the intersection of Merivale Road and Viewmount Drive in Nepean, Ontario, Canada. The school is known for its gifted student program, but also runs French Immersion programs and extensive visual art, music, and co-operative education programs.


Contents

[edit] History

Merivale High School was initially constructed in 1964 alongside Bell High School in Bell's Corners. According to aerial photos taken in these time periods, by 1965 the "A" Wing, "B" Wing, "E" Wing and "T" wing were finished. Part of the parking lot (in front of the school) was paved while the rest was being leveled. The school then received an expansion of an added "D" Wing and "L" Wing. By 1969 the all the current buildings were complete, the Tech building was expanded, and the running track and indoor Merivale Centennial Arena (It was under construction during the finishing of the initial buildings) were finished. Later on the Library, in between the two "D" and "E" wings, would be added on. The evidence of the aerial photographs show that none of any of the buildings looked in anyway different from what they look like presently, and several objects and things like the bleachers on the back field and the green metal window shades have existed since the school's current state in 1965. This explains they're current dilapidation. The school has also had to witness many changes around its premises, such as the re-alignment of Viewmount Road (back then Borden Side Road) and the increase of commercial enterprises like Merivale Mall in the 1970s.


Due to its location on the increasingly commercially developed (and valuable) Merivale strip, and its reduced importance since the completion of John McCrae Secondary School in Barrhaven, efforts had been made by the province to close the school in the late 1990's as a means of saving money. These efforts proved unsuccessful due to a large amount of community and student body support for the school. Levels of enrollment are expected to drop in the coming years as the demographic composition of the surrounding area changes, and as new schools are built to service some of the current source communities for students. Nonetheless, the immediate future of the school appears secure with the 2005 closure of nearby J. S. Woodsworth Secondary School by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, because of declining attendance at the nearby school. The population of the school is around 1375. The school's team is the Merivale Marauders, and the school's colours are maroon and gold.


The school is among the top schools in Ontario for academics. In 2000, a team of Merivale students won the Reach for the Top national championship;[2] in 2003, the school was named champion on the CBC television series SmartAsk.[3] The school's music program is considered one of the best in the Ottawa area: the school's ensembles regularly win "gold" standings at regional MusicFest competitions, and won 5 golds when they attended the 2000 national finals at York University.[4] The school also competed in the 2006 national MusicFest competition with 7 ensembles, all achieving a grade of silver or higher. Merivale also excels in dramatic arts. Their musical production of "Lucky Stiff" was nominated thirteen times for the Ottawa-area Cappie awards in 2005-2006, an awards ceremony for high school productions. It took home eight awards, the most of any school that year.[5] In 1999, the student newspaper, The Vanguard, won First Place (for a credit course newspaper) in the Toronto Star High School Newspaper Awards, a first for the publication. The Vanguard had previously won multiple first place awards in a similar competition held by the Ottawa Citizen.

In early December 2006 an electrical fire destroyed the interiors of the main office, student services and guidance departments. The damage was estimated at CA$100,000 and a temporary wall had to be constructed to facilitate reconstruction. The new office opened in 2007.

The school has had much success in sports. Six sports teams qualified for the OFSAA finals in 2005-2006. In the 2006-2007 season, the senior girls' basketball team, the senior and junior girls' and senior boys' cross country team, the senior boys soccer team qualified for OFSAA. Perhaps most notably, the Merivale High School boys football team won the City Championship in 2005. Following a year in which the school was forced to suspend its football program, an influx of athletes from the recently closed J.S Woodsworth entered the program en route to a successful season in which the team went undefeated.

The school is served by OC Transpo "Special" busses in the 600 series which convey the students to and from school from surrounding (and distant) communities such as Barrhaven.

Bus Routes:

677
675
687
642
688

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ From the naming convention of homerooms in the 1990s
  2. ^ Reach For The Top National Champions 1998-2007
  3. ^ "Merivale students win trivia challenge" in The Ottawa Citizen, 2 April 2003, C3
  4. ^ MusicFest Canada : 2000 Festival Results
  5. ^ Patrick Langston: "A Touch of Broadway at the NAC" in The Ottawa Citizen, 13 June 2006, A1

[edit] External links