Regiopolis - Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School (sometimes abbreviated to RND or "Regi") is a secondary school located 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 Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

offering grades 9 to 12. It is one of three schools in Kingston that offer 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 ...

(IB) program, and is Canada's oldest English

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

high school.

International Baccalaureate Diploma program

At Regiopolis-Notre Dame, the

program boasts smaller-than-average class sizes and strong student-teacher connections with an emphasis on philosophic and critical thought. With over a thousand students attending RND, the "IB experience" offers peer interaction on a smaller scale with the option of joining the school's many extracurricular teams, clubs, and activities. Pre-International Baccalaureate occurs in grades 9 and 10. In Grade 11 (Year 1 IB) and 12 (Year 2 IB), students are enrolled in the Diploma program. Simultaneously, these students also earn credit towards the provincial OSSD diploma. Some students opt to participate in earning IB Certificates as an alternative to the full IB Diploma program.

History

The Diocese of Kingston under Bishop Alexander Macdonell obtained a charter from the

Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was the elected part of the legislature for the province of Upper Canada, functioning as the lower house in the Parliament of Upper Canada. Its legislative power was subject to veto by the appointed Lis ...

on March 4, 1837 to establish the College of Regiopolis. Construction began in 1839 and the institution opened in 1842. A sister school for girls, Notre Dame was founded in 1841. Regiopolis originally functioned as a secondary school,

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

and college and was given university status and degree granting powers in 1866. However, due to financial difficulties, the college closed in 1869. In 1892, Regiopolis' five story stone building on Sydenham Street became the new location of Hotel Dieu Hospital. Hôtel-Dieu Sydenham Street Kingston

Also in 1892,

James Vincent Cleary James Vincent Cleary (18 September 1828 – 24 February 1898) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and Archbishop of Kingston, Ontario. Biography Cleary was born on 18 September 1828, in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, Ireland, to Thomas and Ma ...

, Kingston's first

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

, reopened Regiopolis College on King Street as a secondary school for boys. In 1914, the school moved to its present location on Russell Street in northern Kingston. William Newlands Jr. (architect) designed the main building (1914), dormitory and gymnasium (1925).http://dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/architects/view/1450 William Newlands Jr. (architect) The Jesuit Fathers of Upper Canada took over operation of the school in 1931 and operated it for the next forty years. They utilized Regiopolis' university charter to graduate six

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

recipients in 1941 and 1942 but abandoned the post-secondary project once and for all due to low enrollment and limited resources. The

Congregation of Notre Dame The Congrégation de Notre Dame (CND) is a religious community for women founded in 1658 in Ville Marie (Montreal), in the colony of New France, now part of Canada. It was established by Marguerite Bourgeoys, who was recruited in France to creat ...

was invited to Kingston by Bishop Macdonnell to establish a girls' school. They began conducting classes in 1841, first on King Street and then in a house on Earl Street. In 1846, they established a permanent school at the corner of Bagot and Johnson Streets and remained there until the late 1960s. The two schools were merged in 1967 when operating costs became too high for separate boys' and girls' institutions to be viable and moved to the Regiopolis College site taking the name Regiopolis-Notre Dame. The Jesuit Fathers withdrew from the operation of the school in 1970 and the Frontenac Lennox and Addington County Roman Catholic Separate School Board took over jurisdiction while the Sisters of Notre Dame continued their involvement. The present building opened in 1977 and expanded twice, in 1993 and 2004. The 2004 expansion added a second gym to the school, which now is the site of most Regi sporting events, school masses, and spirit rallies.

Athletics

Regiopolis-Notre Dame currently fields teams in both boys (15) and girls (14) divisions - including soccer, basketball, volleyball, football, field hockey, track and field, badminton, tennis, hockey, rugby, wrestling and cross country. RND sports teams use the name "Panthers" - the previous "Redskins" name was dropped due to its insensitivity. School colours are Garnet and Gold. Regi's senior boys' volleyball team has become a perennial provincial contender at the AAA level, having won OFSAA gold on four separate occasions - first in 2002, then winning back to back titles in 2009 & 2010 and most recently in 2014. The senior boys' soccer team also captured an OFSAA gold medal at the 2006 tournament held in Kingston. Regi is also home to the national ranked co-ed cheerleading national champions (2001-2011)

Notable alumni

Cory Greenwood Cory James Greenwood (born June 5, 1985) is a professional Canadian football linebacker for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a Grey Cup champion having won the 106th Grey Cup with the Stampeders. He played coll ...

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

player

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

Gerald Bull Gerald Vincent Bull (March 9, 1928 – March 22, 1990) was a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery. He moved from project to project in his quest to economically launch a satellite using a huge artillery piece, to which end he des ...

, engineer and artillery developer, designer of the

Project Babylon Project Babylon was a space gun project commissioned by then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. It involved building a series of "superguns". The design was based on research from the 1960s Project HARP led by the Canadian artillery expert Gerald ...

" supergun" * Scott Harrington, hockey player *

Bonnie Henry Bonnie J. Fraser Henry (born ) is a Canadian physician who is the Provincial Health Officer for British Columbia, the first woman in this position. Henry is also a clinical associate professor at the University of British Columbia. She was a fami ...

, Chief Medical Officer of Health, British Columbia

References

External links