St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School

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St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School
[[Image:[1]|center|]] ""Praestantia Scholastica , Praestantia Religiosa, Praestantia Athletica"
Address
1045 Upper Paradise Road
Hamilton, Ontario, L9B 2N4, Canada
Information
Superintendent Jackie Bajus
Area trustee Sergio Manchia (Ward 8)
Principal Mrs. S. Fortino-Bozzo
School type High school
Grades 9-12
Mascot Tommy the Knight
Homepage http://www.stmcss.org/index.htm

Saint Thomas More Catholic Secondary School is one of 7 Public-Catholic High Schools in Hamilton, Ontario under the jurisdiction of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board. The school is located on the West Mountain of Hamilton, serving the south-west of Hamilton as well as parts of Glanbrook and Ancaster (communities in the Greater Hamilton Area). The school's Latin motto is:

"Praestantia Scholastica , Praestantia Religiosa, Praestantia Athletica"

STM, as it is affectionately called by students and the surrounding community, is the largest school in south-western Hamilton, holding over 1900 students. Saint Thomas More graduates approx. 300 students a year with around 60% of them going onto University and College. The school's 650 member staff are involved in the school's numerous activities, sports and associations.

Contents

[edit] Athletics

STM has been extremely successful in athletics as of late, most notably a 14 - 7 victory in the Golden Horseshoe Bowl. The school prides itself on its athletics as it has over 70 teams that have each won a championship at least once in the school's history. The biggest teams are the Football, Basketball, Hockey and Soccer teams. STM also has many teams and clubs not found in most schools like Girl's Hockey and Slo-Pitch teams as well as wrestling and field-hockey teams.

[edit] Student Council

STM's student council is an essential part of the school's community, electing students from every kind of social background, academic level and age. Student Council elections at STM are often high-spirited events starting weeks before the vote, with the most activity occurring in the final week, including speeches, debates and general campaigning.

This year's student council elections took place between May 7 and May 18, 2007. Nominations were accepted May 7 to May 11 and campaigning took place from May 14 to May 17, with the vote and results known by May 18.

The results for the 2007-2008 student council election are as follows:

President - Victor Raso
Vice-President - Robert Bozzo
Treasurer - Daniel Duguay
Recording Officer - Bryan Georgeski
Spritiual Director - Daniel Srouji
Social Convenor - Nick Klimchuk
Grade 12 Rep - Chris Erl
Grade 11 Rep - Huntar Principil
Grade 10 Rep - Patricia Razo
Grade 9 Rep - Sara Pongetti

Past presidents of the Student Council include Natalie Raso, Juan Veliz, Jenny Donoghue and PJ Mercanti.

[edit] Activities

Saint Thomas More has a host of unique and popular activities. The school is equipped with a state of the art television broadcast studio (CMOR) where the morning announcements are broadcast from. STM also puts on Christmas and Year-End videos often in conjunction with the student council and the various teams and clubs that have won championships and awards through the year. STM also has Concert, Jazz and Guitar Bands as well as a Choir that have all won awards throughout Canada and the United States. New clubs and organizations started for the 2006-2007 year including the Game Programming Club and the Debate Society. Because of the school's Catholic background, there are many different social-activism clubs not found in most other schools. STM has an organized Halloween for Hunger campaign in which students go door to door collecting canned goods for the Hamilton Mountain Neighbour to Neighbour Center. H4H, as it is sometimes referred to, is currently in its 9th year and has set a goal for 2007 of collecting 40,000 pounds of canned food. The school also has a Christmas Miracle campaign where students in individual classes purchase gifts for the less-fortunate in Hamilton. Adhering more closely to the school's Catholicity, there are Pilgrimages to Lourdes every two years and there is an active Pro-Life Group on campus.

[edit] Administration

Due to STM's large size, there are three Vice-Principals (Mr. J. Pusztay, Mr. Hogan and Mr. Hargot) who have jurisdiction over certain students depending on last name (A-E, K-N and O-Z). The school also has one principal, Mrs. S. Fortino-Bozzo.

[edit] Other

The school's uniform policy has been the topic of constant debate from both sides. Both students and parents make up both sides, either for or against the uniforms.

This school also offers a Computer Sciences course with Cisco Systems affiliation.

[edit] Football

In 2007, the Knights defeated the Bishop Ryan Celtics 42-6 bringing them to their second consecutive city championship. The Knights went on to meet the Bishop Ryan Celtics once again in the Golden Horseshoe Bowl and once again came out on top with a 14-7 win. This is the Knights second consecutive Golden Horseshoe Bowl championship. The Knights also finished the year with a perfect 12-0 record including a win over Cleveland Heights High School of Cleveland, Ohio. The Knights became the first team to repeat (2008-2009) as Golden Horseshoe Bowl champions, and were recently named All Canadian Gridirons Number One Canadian football team.

[edit] External References