St. Joseph High School is a Roman Catholic high school in the Barrhaven neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is run by the Ottawa Catholic School Board. In athletics, the school teams are referred to as the St. Joseph Jaguars and the school mascot is a

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

named McJagger. Commonly known as ''St. Joe's'' by the local community, St. Joe's has an enrollment of approximately 2500-3000 students, ranging from

grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also r ...

7 to 12, as well as 115 staff members.

History

St. Joseph High School opened on 11 October 2002 to account for the recent growth of the

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

suburb of Barrhaven. The only other Catholic high school in the area, Mother Teresa High School, was desperately overcrowded when St. Joe's opened for the 2002-03 school year. The school began with an enrollment of over 1000 students. By 2005, this number had exceeded 1500 students. The school bears the name of a former school on Broadview and a former school on Keyworth, which is now St. George Catholic Elementary School.

Facilities

The building of St. Joseph High School followed the design of Edward J. Cuhaci, mimicking Holy Trinity High School and many other local schools. St. Joe's has three floors, which include a chapel, two gymnasiums, a learning commons, an exercise room, two art rooms, and laboratories for

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

, biology, physics, and general science. There are 27 portables outside the school, as well as one

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

field, 5 basketball nets (one during construction), and a 400-metre track. The Middle School is held on the top floor while the facilities for grades 9-12 are held on the bottom 2 Construction Construction started on the school in summer 2019 to build a 30 room and a new gymnasium addition to the school to help its growing population. The addition will be similar to the ones built at Holy Trinity High School and other schools of the same design. During the construction, one sports field was taken for more portables.

Extra-curricular activities

Athletics

St. Joseph offers a wide variety of over 25 sports teams, ranging from

to badminton. In its beginning 3 years alone, St. Joe's sent 6 teams to the Ontario Federation of Secondary Schools Athletic Association provincial championships, with the 2005-06 Junior Cheerleading team even placing first in Ontario. Every year since its opening, the school has won the CAHPERD award for its educational programs.

Arts

St. Joseph offers Art, Music, and Drama classes to students in all grade levels. Photography classes are offered to students in grades 10 through 12. In grade 12, the Drama class becomes a production class, in which, students put on a play. This play is usually entered in the Cappies Critics and Awards Program. In June 2014, St. Joseph production of Suite Surrender, won the Cappies Award for the Best Play in the capital region for the 2013-2014 season, and also two other award for Best Marketing and Publicity, and Best Comic Actress in a Play. St. Joseph has a total of 5 Cappie trophies. Canada's Capital Cappies#Award Winners 8 There is also an Improv Club, a 7/8 as well as a high school band, and after school music lessons. St. Joseph hosts an annual Coffee House, Arts Night, and a Battle of the Bands to showcase the school's talent. There are also school dances and activities such as JagJog offered throughout the year.

Intramurals

Grade 7 and 8, as well as Grades 9-12, are offered lunch-time intramurals in sports such as floor hockey, basketball, or dodgeball. For their efforts, St. Joseph has been given the CIRA award for its programs. High School intramurals are organised by the Recreational Leadership class, a class offered for grade 12 students at lunch.

Notable alumni

* Elle Mills - YouTube vlogger * Nicholas Baptiste -

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

hockey prospect *

MacKenzie Weegar MacKenzie Weegar (born January 7, 1994) is a Canadians, Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Calgary Flames in the National Hockey League (NHL). Weegar was drafted by the Florida Panthers with the 206th overall pick in the 2013 N ...

player for the Calgary Flames * Serron Noel -

hockey prospect

References

150 years of Catholic Education in Ottawa-Carleton 1856-2006, Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board, 2006

External links

Ottawa Catholic School Board websiteSt. Joseph website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joseph High School (Ottawa) Catholic secondary schools in Ontario High schools in Ottawa Educational institutions established in 2002 2002 establishments in Ontario Middle schools in Ottawa