| Walkerville Collegiate Institute | |
| Address | |
| 2100 Richmond Street Windsor, Ontario, N8Y 1L4, Canada |
|
| Information | |
| School board | GECDSB |
| Principal | Ms. V. Houston |
| Vice principal | Ms. Burnett-Curry |
| School type | Collegiate Institute |
| Grades | 9 through 12 |
| Language | English |
| Motto | "Nil Sine Labore" "Nothing without work" |
| Team name | Tartans |
| Colours | Blue and White |
| Founded | 1922 |
| Homepage | Website |
Walkerville Collegiate Institute (W.C.I) is a secondary school (grades 9 through 12) located in the olde Walkerville area of Windsor, Ontario, and managed by the Greater Essex County District School Board. It is the home of the Walkerville Centre for the Creative Arts, which has arts programs in Drama, Dance, Visual Arts, Media, and Vocal. All of the WCCA courses require students to audition to get into the program. This is especially required if you live outside of school district. Walkerville hosts one of three Community Living (STEPS Programs) in the district, which serves more than 30 developmentally challenged students. Walkerville also has many sports teams including basketball, hockey, swimming, soccer, and curling.
Walkerville's feeder schools include:
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Walkerville Collegiate Institute officially opened its doors to the public on September 2, 1922. Many challenges came in putting a public school in the prestigious Olde Walkerville area.
The school started with only one hundred and ninety five students and a staff of ten with Mr. Robert Meade as Principal. Initially there were twenty-two classrooms, an area for manual training for the boys, a cooking and sewing area for the girls, a wood paneled library, a gymnasium, pool, and auditorium.
In 1929, Walkerville's kilted cadet Corps was formed and the "Tartans" began to establish their reputation, scholastically, athletically, and musically with a Pipe Band recognized through competition as the best in the province.
Major renovations were completed in 1955 with the addition of a new gymnasium, cafeteria, rifle range and quartermaster stores and a new music room. The main office was renovated in 1966, new classrooms were added along with an improved change area for the girls' physical education classes.
In 1986 the Community living program was added and a new dimension in providing for the needs of all students became a reality.
In 1989, Walkerville was selected as the home for the Walkerville Center for the Creative Arts and facilities expanded again to meet the needs of Vocal and Instrumental Music, Art and Dance as well as painting, printmaking and sculpture programs.
Today with a student enrollment of well over eight hundred and a staff of seventy, Walkerville's proud traditions remain an important part of what the school stands for. Nil sine labore (Nothing Without Work) remains the school motto, as relevant today as it was in 1922.
WCCA (Walkerville Centre for Creative Arts), is an extensive art program including drama, dance, visual arts, media arts,vocal and instrumental music. All students must audition to be accepted in to the programs. Teachers and small group tutors specializing in a particular arts program collaborate to improve the artistic students in their work and give them the opportunity to succeed in an art career. It was established in 1989 by John Vacratsis.
The WCCA visual arts program is very extensive, including but not limited to, painting, sculpture and drawing. The students begin with fundamental principles of design in drawing and gradually work their way to becoming a professional artist in any chosen medium. The WCCA classes are currently taught by Mr. Kevin Lock. Twice every year, the students of WCCA visual arts and media put together an art show at the local gallery Art Speak. Students have exhibited artwork at Windsor's Art int the Park, as well as being included in many other local shows.
With music being a very vital area within the arts program, there are multiple classes within it. The largest section is the Orchestra program, which is taught, conducted and directed by Mrs. Amanda Sands. Within the Orchestra title is another section, known as Wind Ensemble or Senior band. This much smaller group is composed of senior or advanced level orchestra students, and the Wind Ensemble has its own series of performances that run in tandem with the Full Orchestra. Followed by the Orchestra program is the Pit Band, also conducted by Mrs. Sands. Pit Band is, depending on the year and amount of students, smaller than Wind Ensemble and typically occurs once a year, with one major performance. Previously, Pit Band was the band that played alongside the musical of the year, acting as both the sound effects and the musical track.
WCCA's dramatic arts program is taught by Mr. John-Anthony Nabben. In 2009, WCCA drama participated in the Sears Drama Festival and advanced to the Provincials Showcase level with the play "The Insanity of Mary Girard." The following year, they performed again in the Sears Festival, with the original play "The Holding Room" written by director and teacher John-Anthony Nabben, continued well past the Regional awards and moved onto the Provincials as well. The parents of Reena Virk, the girl whose murder the play was based on, flew into Windsor from their home in British Columbia to see the show multiple times, and speak to the audience members about their experience.
In August 2010, a group of 30 students from the WCCA drama program were invited to Edinburgh, Scotland for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. While there, they performed the award winning comedy musical, The Drowsy Chaperone and received the "Best Production" recognition of the festival.
Every Year, WCCA drama enters a play into the Sears Ontario Drama Festival. Recent plays have included:
Most years, Walkerville has the honor of performing two major shows per school year, a straight-drama and a musical - with music provided by the WCCA Student Orchestra.
| Year | Straight Drama | Musical | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013–2014 | Wicked | ||
| 2012–2013 | Legally Blonde | ||
| 2011–2012 | My Daughter Vera (formally "The Holding Room") | The Phantom of the Opera | |
| 2010–2011 | |||
| 2009–2010 | The Holding Room | Beauty and Beast / The Drowsy Chaperone | |
| 2008-09 | The Crucible | Seussical | |
| 2007-08 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | The Pajama Game | |
| 2006-07 | The Diary of Anne Frank | Into the Woods | |
| 2005-06 | The Miracle Worker | Fifteen | |
| 2004-05 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | A Chorus Line | |
| 2003-04 | The Importance of Being Earnest | Oklahoma! | |
| 2002-03 | Les Misérables | ||
| 2001-02 | Grease | ||
| 2000-01 | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat | ||
| 1999-00 | Evita | ||
| 1998-99 | Schoolhouse Rock Live / Little Shop of Horrors | ||
| 1997-98 | Oliver! | ||
| 1996-97 | Brighton Beach Memoirs | ||
| 1995-96 | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers | ||
| 1994-95 | The Pirates of Penzance | ||
| 1993-94 | Rumors | 42nd Street | |
| 1992-93 | Charley's Aunt | Fiddler on the Roof | |
| 1991-92 | The Ecstasy of Rita Joe | West Side Story | |
| 1990-91 | The Insanity of Mary Girard |