| O'Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute | |
| Address | |
| 301 Simcoe Street North Oshawa, Ontario, L1G 4T2, Canada |
|
| Information | |
| School board | Durham District School Board |
| Principal | Kyeong Cho |
| Vice principal | Dean Geiger Laurie Hackney |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Language | English |
| Area | Durham |
| Mascot | Red Hawks |
| Colours | Red, Green, Yellow |
| Founded | 1909 |
| Enrolment | 1417 (2009) |
| Homepage | http://www.oneillcvi.com/ |
O'Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute is located in Oshawa, Ontario within the Durham District School Board. The school has students in grades 9-12 and offers a wide range of academic and extracurricular activities.
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O'Neill CVI is the oldest secondary school in Oshawa, opened in its present location in 1909 as Oshawa High School. High school classes had been held in the Central Public School downtown for many year prior to this, so the school's roots go back well into the 19th century. The original building is still in the core of the school, but is not visible from outside.
After several major expansions during the 1920s, OHS became Oshawa Collegiate and Vocational Institute in 1930. In the Post-war era, when Oshawa began building other high schools, OCVI was renamed O'Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute after long-time principal, Albert O'Neill, who had led its expansion and transition to collegiate status. O'Neill celebrated its 75th anniversary (as OCVI, though it's actually much older when the OHS days are included) in 2005 with a large mural in the library and a huge reunion of students and teachers.
O'Neill is home to both a Performing Arts program (PA) and a Visual Arts program (VA), as well as a Gifted program for identified Gifted and Enriched students. PA and VA programs draw students from across Durham Region, and O'Neill was mentioned in the Toronto Star as a prestigious arts school in Southern Ontario. The Gifted program, however, only draws students from across Oshawa, as the other cities in Durham Region have their own Gifted schools. O'Neill also offers Advanced Placement courses for students in grades 11 and 12.
Due to O'Neill's large amounts of Gifted and Enriched students, O'Neill far surpassed the Durham Board of Education's average on the EQAO testing to be one of the top schools in the region.
O'Neill offers many extracurriculars, such as several choirs and bands; the School Reach team; sports teams in football, soccer, rugby, cross country, curling, basketball, volleyball, golf, and others; STAR (Students Together Against Racism); the school newspaper, the O'Neill Promethean; the Spirit Committee; Chess Club: Environmental Club; Ping Pong club; the Model UN; the Breakfast Club; and numerous other clubs.