Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute
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Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute (KCVI) was a secondary school in Kingston,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. Founded in 1792 by Reverend John Stuart based upon a grant for secondary education in the colony of Upper Canada, it moved to its location at 235 Frontenac Street in 1892. It is considered the oldest
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
secondary school in Ontario and the second oldest in Canada. KCVI was Kingston's only public secondary school until the opening of Queen Elizabeth Collegiate and Vocational Institute (QECVI) in 1955 and
Loyalist Collegiate and Vocational Institute Loyalist Collegiate and Vocational Institute (LCVI) is a secondary school (high school) located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is commonly referred to as simply "LC". The school is located at 153 Van Order Drive in the city's Calvin Park neighb ...
(LCVI) in 1963. In 2012, KCVI was ranked by the
Fraser Institute The Fraser Institute is a libertarian-conservative Canadian public policy think tank and registered charity. The institute describes itself as independent and non-partisan. It is headquartered in Vancouver, with additional offices in Calgary, T ...
as the top performing school in the Limestone Board and in the top 10 per cent of public schools in Ontario. KCVI closed in December 2020, its student population moved to Kingston Secondary School, a new school constructed on the former QECVI site that was created to replace both KCVI and QECVI as the result of a Program and Accommodation Review Committee decision reached in 2014.


History

KCVI's history starts with the Kingston Grammar school in 1792. In 1807, the school was renamed Midland District Grammar School.McKendry, Jennifer. "Chronology of the City of Kingston." Kingston: Kingston Historical Society, 2000. http://www.kingstonhistoricalsociety.ca/chronology.html . From c. 1825–30, the future first prime minister of Canada,
John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...
, attended the school. In 1853 the school moved to a new location (now Sydenham Public School) and was renamed Kingston County Grammar School. It was renamed Kingston High School in 1871, becoming Kingston Collegiate Institute (KCI) in 1872. Girls were first admitted as students in January 1877, and the school remained co-educational until its closure in 2020. Fifteen years later, at the institution's centenary in 1892, the school moved to its site on Frontenac Street. Finally, with the addition of a technical and commercial teaching wing in 1931, the school was renamed Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute (KCVI), the name it retained until its closure. The oldest remaining wing of the school is the 1915 wing, which housed science laboratories. The original wing was destroyed by fire but was replaced. The school celebrated its bicentenary in 1992 and celebrated its 225th anniversary in 2017. The school is commonly recognized as the oldest public high school in Ontario and the second oldest in the country. The school closure and move to former QECVI site was planned to happen at the end of the 2018–19 school year, but was then moved to happen in the middle of the 2019–20 school year. The school closure was delayed again another until the end of the 2019–20 school year in September 2019. The school finally had its last day of in-person classes on December 11, 2020.


Athletics

The team colours were blue and white. The team name for all sports was "Blues" and the mascot was a blue bear. The school competed in various sports including, but not limited to: rowing, cross-country, track and field, football, chess club, advanced chicken plucking, rugby, hockey, basketball, volleyball, soccer, mountain biking, curling, Ping-Pong, tennis, badminton, baseball, golf, swimming, and skiing, along with various other sports.


Coat of arms

A new coat of arms was formally conferred on KCVI by
Ray Hnatyshyn Ramon John Hnatyshyn ( ; uk, Роман Іванович Гнатишин, Roman Ivanovych Hnatyshyn, ; March 16, 1934December 18, 2002) was a Canadian lawyer and statesman who served as governor general of Canada, the 24th since Canadian Co ...
, then
Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...
, in 1992. It celebrated KCVI's 200th anniversary. The Latin motto, ''maxima debetur pueris reverentia'', can be roughly translated to "Youth are entitled to the greatest respect". Another more literal translation would be "The greatest respect is owed to boys". The differences in translation are not an attempt to make the motto more politically correct. The Latin word "puer", refers to a boy (or child) under the age of 17 (juvenis would refer to older youth) and in the plural is used to refer to groups of children of both genders.


IB Diploma program

KCVI was one of 84 schools in Canada that ran the
International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...
program. The IB diploma program was offered at KCVI during the last two years of secondary school. However, there is also the Pre-IB program to prepare the Grade 9 and 10 students for the rigorous pace of the IB curriculum. Also, if students did not want to enroll in the complete IB diploma program, they could apply for IB certificates in the course of their choosing. Students who applied for the IB certificate but were ultimately rejected could still take an IB coure, however it would count as a normal credit and not an IB credit.


SHSM (Specialist High Skills Major)

KCVI offered a SHSM in Arts in Culture and Communication Technologies.


KCVI clubs

KCVI had many different activities going on throughout the school year, such as: the Students' Association – student government, DECA – Student Marketing Club, the student-run Leadership Conference, the improv teams, Mathletes, Model UN, Respect Committee, Outdoors Club, Environment Club, South African Partnership and Youth in Action, Drama Club, Robotics Club and the Debating Club. There was also an Athletics Association in charge of many sport-related school events. The Arts Council was formed in the 2006–07 year as a complement to the Athletic Association. The KCVI Yearbook Committee created a pictorial account of each year in a yearbook called "The Times". As well, KCVI hosted CKVI (The Cave), a radio broadcasting focus program, which broadcast at 91.9 FM in downtown Kingston.


KCVI DECA

KCVI's DECA chapter was the largest and most successful in eastern Ontario, with members competing and winning medals at regional, provincial and international competitions, winning over 100 medals, 20 plaques, and 5 ICDC trophies over the past 9 years. Since its establishment in 2005 until the school's closure in 2020, KCVI's DECA chapter saw significant growth, and registered over 60 members for its 2013-2014 season, making it one of the largest clubs at KCVI at that time. The KCVI DECA chapter also saw active participation within the community of Kingston, having active partnerships with influential businesses and organizations such as VisitKingston.ca,
Kingston Community Credit Union Kingston Community Credit Union Limited. is a Canadian credit union, formed in 1957 as the Kingston Municipal Employees Credit Union, and became a full service community open bond credit union in 1974 having merged with the Teamsters Credit union ...
, Kingston Economic Development Corporation, and the Queen's University School of Business, raising over $4000 in generous sponsorships and grants. The KCVI DECA chapter's performance at the 2014 International Career Development Conference in Atlanta, Georgia was its best to that point, taking home over 20 medals and 3 trophies. In 2018, the club saw Cameron Smith, Vanshik Patel, and Johnson Lee bring home a third place trophy in the category of BOR at the International Career Development Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, the youngest group to do so in KCVI history.


KCVI Improv Team

KCVI has a long and decorated history of competing in the Canadian Improv Games. Since the Kingston Regional Tournament was re-established in the 1996–97 school year, until school's closure in 2020, KCVI won 10 regional gold medals (including 7 back-to-back regional titles from 1997–2003), three regional silver medals and one regional bronze medal. The team won national bronze in 1998.


The Kingston Model United Nations

KCVI hosted a Model United Nations for several years, held every spring. Recently the Model UN has started to expand outside the school.


K-Botics

K-Botics, otherwise known as
FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that weig ...
Team 2809 was a robotics club started and mentored by two teachers Kevin Wood and Rachel Bearse. K-Botics was an extracurricular program at the school where students design and build a robot from scratch to participate in a game created by
FIRST First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
. The game, which changed every year, was not only played by hundreds of robotics teams from around the world, it was also the training ground for future engineers. Traveling to multiple locations throughout the year K-Botics received multiple awards and have been placed in a wide variety of high-ranking positions. The group received support from local companies and community volunteers. K-Botics merged to become Lake Effect Robotics after the 2016 season. Simon Barber is the current president of the K-Botics team.


Lake Effect Robotics

Lake Effect Robotics, otherwise known as FRC team 2708 that was formed as a merger of K-Botics, FRC team 2809, and the CyberFalcons, FRC team 3710. Lake Effect Robotics was on the winning alliance at the Detroit FIRST World Championship in 2018.


Student government

Many school events and spirit days at KCVI ware organized and implemented by the SA (Students' Association), the KCVI student government.


Street Smart

Street Smart is a Community Education Centre of the Limestone District School Board where students can earn their high school diploma in a more relaxed environment. They provide on-site secondary education for students aged primarily 16–20 who require an alternative setting for earning high school credits. They are staffed with certified secondary school teachers.


Focus Programs

The Limestone District School Board offered a number of courses that concentrated on a particular field of interest to give students training, academic experience, and work experience that will give them a foundation in that area of study. There were a variety of programs that prepared students for different destinations post-graduation: university, college, apprenticeships, and direct entry into the workplace. The programs offered at KCVI specifically included guitar building and radio broadcast journalism.


Notable students

* J. Adam Brown, actor *
Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...
, hockey commentator * Helen Cooper, federal and municipal politician, Mayor of Kingston 1988–1993 *
Robertson Davies William Robertson Davies (28 August 1913 – 2 December 1995) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best known and most popular authors and one of its most distinguished " men of letters" ...
, author *
Hugh Dillon Hugh Dillon (born May 31, 1963) is a Canadian singer and actor who is the lead vocalist of rock band Headstones. He is also a film and television actor; his notable roles include Mike Sweeney in '' Durham County,'' Ed Lane in '' Flashpoint'' an ...
, musician and actor *
Gord Downie Gordon Edgar Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its forma ...
, musician and actor, lead singer with
The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...
* Abdellah Ghassel, Schulich leader * Paul D. N. Hebert, biologist, developed the
DNA barcoding DNA barcoding is a method of species identification using a short section of DNA from a specific gene or genes. The premise of DNA barcoding is that by comparison with a reference library of such DNA sections (also called "sequences"), an indiv ...
method of taxonomy *
Rob Gibson Robert McKay Gibson (born 10 October 1945) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 2003 until 2016, first as a Highlands and Islands regional member from 2003 until 2011, then repre ...
, Olympic medalist *
Rick Howland Richard "Rick" Howland is a Canadian actor known for his role as Trick on ''Lost Girl'' and Harry Buttman (a parody of Gary Bettman) in ''Bon Cop, Bad Cop''. Career Howland's first credited acting role appears in the feature film "To Catch ...
, actor and musician *
John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...
, first prime minister of Canada (attended Midland Grammar School, later KCVI, c. 1825-1830) *
Emily Julian McManus Emily Julian McManus (December 30, 1865 – September 21, 1918) was a Canadian poet, author, and educator. In addition to a number of poems, some of which were reproduced in the collection of George William Ross, and some by William Douw Lighthall ...
, poet, author, and educator *
Peter Milliken Peter Andrew Stewart Milliken (born November 12, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 until his retirement in 2011 and served as Speaker of the House for 10 years beginning in 20 ...
, former
Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada The speaker of the House of Commons (french: président de la Chambre des communes) is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. A member of Parliament (MP), they are elected at the beginning of each new parliament b ...
*
Robert Mundell Robert Alexander Mundell (October 24, 1932 – April 4, 2021) was a Canadian economist. He was a professor of economics at Columbia University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences i ...
, nobel laureate and "father of the Euro" * Zach Savage, actor, esteemed artist and social media animator * Cameron Smith, scientist and Charli DaMelio's childhood friend * Adam Tibi, child right's defender *
David Usher David Usher (born April 24, 1966) is a British-born Canadian musician, best-selling author, keynote speaker, and activist best known as the front man for the band Moist. He has also released a number of solo albums. He is the founder of Reimagin ...
, musician * Jeremy Wang, better known by the alias Disguised Toast, is a Taiwanese-Canadian streamer, YouTuber, and Internet personality *
Henry Westman Richardson Henry Westman Richardson (July 21, 1855 – October 27, 1918) was a Canadian businessman and Senator. He was the head of James Richardson and Sons, a commodities firm based in Kingston, Ontario that was founded by his father which handled virt ...
, Canadian Senator *
Simon Whitfield Simon St. Quentin Whitfield (born May 16, 1975 in Kingston, Ontario) is a retired Olympic triathlon champion from Canada. Whitfield won 10 consecutive Canadian Triathlon Championships titles and carried the Canadian national flag during the 2 ...
, Olympic triathlete (Gold Medalist) *
Connor Wilson Connor Wilson (born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 18 December 1996) is a South African alpine skier. He was the sole athlete competing for South Africa at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Biography Wilson was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He ...
, better known as Trap God.


Other

* Members of
The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...
including Downie (see above)


Grade Points competition

Students of KCVI participated in a Grade Points competition, in which different themes days (called "Spirit Days") were decided by the Students' Association and the grade with the most students participating in that theme were awarded grade points. The grade with the most grade points at the end of the year was awarded a prize. Prizes in the past include various pieces of KCVI memorabilia.


Closure

In 2011, The
Limestone District School Board Limestone District School Board (LDSB, known as English-language Public District School Board No. 27 prior to 1999) is an English public district school board encompassing a region that includes the City of Kingston and the counties of Frontenac ...
Program and Accommodation Review Committee (PARC) began investigating strategies for managing the board's annual budget. The committee focused on investigating the advantages and disadvantages of closing select Kingston high schools that were under-enrolled or over-budget. KCVI was reviewed as a problematic institution by the committee due to the school's crumbling infrastructure and high annual overhead. The discussion of closing KCVI caused a large disruption among its students, alumni and parents, and opposition to the closure gained support from the community, resulting in the formation of the group "Save Kingston City Schools". Many Kingston residents supported the group and its cause by posting promotional signs on their lawns and partaking in social media campaigns using Facebook. However, in December 2014, a court ruling dismissed an appeal against the closure. On March 24, 2014, 35 million dollars were allocated to the building of a new school, which began construction in November 2017. The new school, known as Kingston Secondary School (KSS), will consolidate the student populations of KCVI and QECVI, as well as relocating the Grade 7/8 french immersion Module Vanier in a 171,000-square foot building on the site of the old QECVI building. In late September 2017, KCVI marked its 225th anniversary with a large-scale reunion event before the final closure of the school, which was planned at that time for 2019. The school remained open for the 2019-2020 school year, due to a delay in the construction of KSS due to bad weather and province-wide strike action by plumbing unions and sheet metal workers. By April 2020, it had become clear that KSS would not be ready to open by September of that year, due in part to the provincially-mandated halt on construction imposed in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. KCVI and Module Vanier's final day of in-person classes took place on December 11, 2020.


Arms


See also

*
List of high schools in Ontario The following is a list of secondary schools in Ontario. Secondary education policy in the Canadian province of Ontario is governed by the Ministry of Education. Secondary education in Ontario includes Grades 9 to 12. The following list include ...


References

{{Reflist High schools in Kingston, Ontario International Baccalaureate schools in Ontario Educational institutions established in 1792 Educational institutions disestablished in 2020 1792 establishments in Upper Canada 2020 disestablishments in Ontario