Colonel By Secondary School

Colonel By Secondary School is an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board high school. It is located in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood of Gloucester in the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is a non-semestered school, and is the only English public school in Ottawa that offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) program.

History

Colonel By Secondary School was unveiled on March 10, 1972. The school was designed by Craig and Kohler architects with P.E. Brule Co. Ltd. contractors. The school was erected by the Carleton Board of Education. The school is dedicated to Lieutenant-Colonel John By. J.L. McDonald served as the first principal of Colonel By Secondary School.^[1]

Colonel By Secondary School was named for Lieutenant Colonel John By, the Royal Engineers officer who supervised the building of Ottawa's Rideau Canal and 1826-1832 and founded Bytown.^[2] A historical plaque located on the grounds of Colonel By Secondary School states, "Colonel John By (1779 - 1836) was born and educated in England and first came to Canada in 1802. As a member of the Royal Engineers, he worked on the first small locks on the St. Lawrence River as well as the fortifications of Quebec. He returned to England in 1811 and fought in the peninsular War, but came back to Canada in 1826 to spend five summers heading the construction of the Rideau Canal, the 200 km long waterway which now connects Ottawa and Kingston. This formidable task included the building of about 50 dams and 47 locks, without the aid of modern equipment. But the amazing feat was never recognized in Colonel By's own lifetime, and he died three years after its completion, never imagining that many thousands of Canadians would greatly admire and value his achievement in the centuries to come. Colonel By's attributes of courage, determination, and diligence, inspire us to emulate him, in the hopes that we too may somehow serve our country in a way which will benefit future generations."^[3]

Ratings

In 2005, Maclean's Magazine named Colonel By Secondary School the #3 academic high school in the country.^[4] In 2007, the Fraser Institute, a libertarian think-tank, rated Colonel By as the top academic school in Ottawa in its Report Card on Ontario's Secondary Schools.^[5]

In 2009, the Fraser Institute rated Colonel By as the #1 public school in Ottawa in its 2007-2008 Report Card on Ontario Secondary Schools, and 6th in the province.

In 2010, the Fraser Institute again rated Colonel By as the #1 public school in Ottawa in its 2008-2009 Report Card on Ontario Secondary Schools, and 14th in the province.^[6]

In 2012 Colonel By was once again rated the #1 public school in Ottawa by the Fraser Institute for 2011-12, and 3rd in the province.^[6]

Presently, Colonel By has the best program in Mathematics, Science and Innovative Technology in Ottawa.

Features

• Cougar Vision, First Digital High-School TV Station^[7]
• International Baccalaureate (IB) Program (consistently one of the best IB schools in the region and country with one student receiving a perfect 45 in last year's may examinations)
• Home of the original Cougar Characters
• Official headquarters of "The Troll Crew," a student body active in global issues such as campaigns to end poverty in Africa, as well as the fight for Net Neutrality.

Athletics

The 2005/2006 track season proved to be very successful for Colonel By. They sent several athletes to the East OFSAA and OFSAA track and field meet, which achieved provincial recognition. Another notable achievement came from the 2002/2003 senior boys soccer team who became the first Colonel By boys soccer team to compete at OFSAA in more than a decade. The Colonel By Boys soccer team has just qualified for AAAA OFSAA in Mississauga after 9 years of not doing so. Senior girls basketball is also a notable team at Colonel By, along with senior girls soccer. However, Colonel By is most mostly recognized in the city and province for its strong volleyball program. Colonel By has also competed at OFSAA for a few ski and snowboarding events in the 2006/2007 season. In addition, the Colonel By Badminton team has done well in Junior and Senior events.The Colonel By Nordic Ski team has also done well in the past finishing 4th last year in Junior Combined and now looking for the NCSSAA championships for the Senior Boys. The Varsity Girl's Waterpolo team is the two year running NCSSAA champions in 2007and 2008 and placed second in 2006. The Colonel By rugby teams are known throughout the city, with the Varsity Girls' Team winning the NCSSAA championship in the 2011 season and placing among the top teams in previous years.

Oluwasegun Makinde with members of Colonel By's relay team. He is seen wearing glasses, third from the left.

Track and Field

Colonel By is known for its recent surge of notable athletes in track and field. Four of Colonel By's athletes who competed in the 2007 OFSAA Track and Field Championships in Ottawa won medals (two gold, one silver and one bronze). Putting this into perspective, excluding this year, there has only been three athletes from eastern Ottawa from the past three years that have won medals in OFSAA.

One Colonel By's gold medalists in 2007, 15 year old Oluwasegun Makinde, set a new junior provincial record in the men's 200m running a personal best of 21.74 seconds, demolishing the old record of 22.75. He attended the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics in the Czech Republic that summer.^[8] Footage of the record-breaking 200m finals can be seen here In his final year, Oluwasegun set the senior provincial record in the men's 200m running a personal best of 20.99 seconds. Footage of the record-breaking 200m finals can be seen here. He opted to not take a victory lap and went off to studies in university. Since then, he has had continued success, including the opportunity to run in the same relay race against Usain Bolt.

The track and field team has continued to progress and in 2010, it sent an Ottawa school board best 19 athletes and 5 relay teams to OFSAA.

Mathematics

Colonel By has had a history of strong math students who have performed well on national math contests administered by the University of Waterloo. For instance, in 2009, Grade 9 Pascal's Math Contest Colonel By came first in the city and fifth in Canada, thanks to the main contestant, Jake Seven. However, its prominence in Olympiad mathematics has been more limited, with few outstanding results on the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge that have warranted invitation to the Canadian Mathematical Olympiad.

This changed in the 2008-2009 school year with the arrival of freshman James Rickards. Despite his youth, he received an invitation to write the 2009 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad and scored in the 3rd division.^[9] His arrival coincided with the school registering for its first writing of the American Mathematics Competitions (a lobbying effort by the senior students at the time that was finally granted). Over half the students who wrote the AMC qualified for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination. James Rickards was the sole participant who went on to receive an invitation to write the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad.

In the 2009-2010 school year, James Rickards has continued to represent Colonel By on the national scale as a sophomore. He placed 2nd in the 2010 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad, outperforming returning members of the 2009 Canadian International Mathematical Olympiad team.^[10] Surprisingly, the Canadian Mathematical Society did not invite James Rickards to the 2010 Canadian IMO team, making him the first student in over a decade to have placed 2nd on the CMO, but not to have been announced a member of the IMO team. In the event that James Rickards is announced a member of the Canadian IMO team in the future, he will be the first Colonel By student in history to have received said honour.

Reach for the Top and Quizbowl

The Colonel By Reach for the Top team won provincials in 2001, and has attended Reach for the Top and Quiz Bowl events consistently. The Reach for the Top team at Colonel By participated in provincials in 2014, coming in the top ten.^[11] Colonel By's Quiz Bowl team has also consistently achieved success, winning the 2013-2014 Quiz Bowl Provincial Championship.^[12]

Notable alumni

• Tom Green, Comedian and talk show host^[13]
• Ryan Bell, Professional Basketball Player, former Carleton Raven basketball player
• Fedor Andreev, Figure skater, 2003 Canadian bronze medalist^[14]
• Amber MacArthur, Canadian television personality.^[15]
• Anne-Marie MacDonald, Author and television host.^[16]
• Parul Sharma, Miss India-Canada 2004, singer-songwriter^[17][18]
• Joel A. Sutherland, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Frozen Blood
• Vanessa Morgan, Actress

See also

• List of high schools in Ontario

References

External links

• Colonel By's School Website
• Colonel By's IB Program Website
• Ottawa-Carleton District School Board

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board schools Secondary schools A.Y.Jackson Secondary School Adult High School Bell High School Brookfield High School Cairine Wilson Secondary School Canterbury High School Colonel By Secondary School Earl of March Secondary School Glebe Collegiate Institute Gloucester High School Hillcrest High School John McCrae Secondary School Lisgar Collegiate Institute Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School Merivale High School Nepean High School Osgoode Township High School Ottawa Technical Learning Centre Rideau High School Ridgemont High School Sir Guy Carleton Secondary School Sir Robert Borden High School Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School South Carleton High School West Carleton Secondary School Woodroffe High School Primary or elementary schools Adrienne Clarkson Agincourt Road A. Lorne Cassidy Alta Vista Assumption Arch Street Avalon Public Barrhaven Bayshore Bayview Bells Corners Berrigan Blossom Park Briargreen Bridlewood Community Broadview Cambridge Street Carleton Heights Carson Grove Castlefrank Castor Valley Cedarview Centennial Century Chapman Mills Charles H. Hulse Christie Churchill Clifford Bowey Connaught Convent Glen Corpus Christi Crystal Bay Centre D. Aubrie Moodie D. Roy Kennedy Devonshire Community Public Dunlop Dunning-Foubert Elgin Street Elizabeth Park Elmdale Emily Carr Fallingbrook Community Farley Mowat Featherston Drive Fielding Drive First Avenue Fisher Park Fitzroy Centennial Forest Valley General Vanier Glashan Glen Cairn Glen Ogilvie Goulbourn Grant Greely Greenbank Hawthorne Henry Larsen Henry Munro Heritage Henry Munro Hilson Avenue Hopewell Avenue Huntley Centennial Jack Donohue J. H. Putnam Jockvale John Young Kars Katimavik Knoxdale Lady Evelyn Lakeview Le Phare Leslie Park Manordale Manor Park Manotick Maple Ridge Mary Honeywell McGregor Easson Meadowlands Metcalfe Munster Mutchmor New Berrigan North Gower/Marlborough Orleans Wood Osgoode Parkwood Hills Pinecrest Pleasant Park Queen Elizabeth Queen Mary Street Queenswood Regina Street Richmond Rideau Valley Riverview Roberta Bondar Robert Bateman Robert E. Wilson Robert Hopkins Roch Carrier Rockcliffe Park Roland Michener Sawmill Creek Severn Avenue Sir Winston Churchill South March Stephen Leacock Steve MacLean Stittsville Stonecrest Summit Terry Fox Trillium Vincent Massey Viscount Alexander W.E. Gowling W. Erskine Johnston Westwind W. O. Mitchell Woodroffe Avenue York Street

Coordinates: 45°27′18″N 75°36′00″W / 45.45500°N 75.60000°W / 45.45500; -75.60000