Harbord Collegiate Institute (HCI or Harbord) is a public

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

located in downtown

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada. The school is located in the Palmerston-Little Italy-

Annex Annex or annexe may refer to: Places * The Annex, a neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. * The Annex (New Haven), a neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, United States. * Annex, Oregon, a census-designated place in the United ...

neighbourhood, situated on the north side of Harbord Street, between Euclid Avenue and Manning Avenue. From the 1920s to the 1950s, about 90 percent of the student body was Jewish, while today the student body largely consists of students of

East Asian East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

and Portuguese descent.

History

Harbord was opened in 1892 as the Harbord Street Collegiate Institute. Harbord's first centennial was celebrated in 1992 and included the inauguration of the Harbord museum, a repository of Harbord

memorabilia A souvenir (French language, French for 'a remembrance or memory'), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memory, memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collecte ...

. To mark the event, Harbord's alumni group, the Harbord Club, published a 300-page history of the school entitled ''The Happy Ghosts of Harbord'', which traces the history of the school from its opening in 1892 to 1992. The original school building was Jacobethan Revival and replaced with the Collegiate Gothic wing in 1932. On November 11, 2005, a

Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces me ...

ceremony took place at Harbord. With the donations from the W. Garfield Weston Foundation and many other corporate sponsors and individuals, the rededication of the 1921

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

monument back to its original splendour was held. In May 2007, a second monument created to remember

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

was revealed in another ceremony.

Harbord Club

The Harbord Club has 2600 members. It was established in 1978. The Harbordite, founded in 1979, is the club newsletter that keeps former students of the school in contact with one another and up-to-date on Harbord activities. The Harbord Charitable Foundation was also created at this time, supporting both student scholarships and alumni activities.

Notable alumni

* Zanana Akande - Ontario NDP MPP and first Black woman Cabinet minister in Canada * Charles Best - co-discoverer of

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the insulin (''INS)'' gene. It is the main Anabolism, anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabol ...

* Kathleen Coburn - scholar of the works of

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...

* David Cronenberg -

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

* Jack Cole - founder of Coles (bookstore) * Charles Trick Currelly - founder and first

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

of the

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

* Victor Feldbrill - founder Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra * Helen Freedhoff - theoretical physicist * Murray Frum, real estate developer and philanthropist *

Frank Gehry Frank Owen Gehry ( ; ; born February 28, 1929) is a Canadian-American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become attractions. Gehry rose to prominence in th ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and designer * Adam Giambrone - former

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

city councillor and TTC chair *

Philip Givens Philip Gerald Givens, (April 24, 1922 – November 30, 1995) was a Canadian politician and judge. He was the Mayor of Toronto, a Member of Parliament (MP) and Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP). He was born and raised in Toronto and a ...

- former

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

* Eddie Goodman - former Lawyer and politician * Paul James, award-winning Canadian

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusin ...

musician;

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

of Paul James Vigna. *

Irving Kaplansky Irving Kaplansky (March 22, 1917 – June 25, 2006) was a mathematician, college professor, author, and amateur musician.O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Irving Kaplansky", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St And ...

- mathematician * Max Kerman -

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

-winning Lead Singer of Arkells * Katerina Lanfranco - artist *

Stephen Lewis Stephen Henry Lewis (born November 11, 1937) is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster, and diplomat. He was the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations in the 1980s and was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democr ...

- former leader of the Ontario NDP, former UN Ambassador, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa * Howie Mandel - actor * Joe Pantalone - former Toronto city councillor * Reva Potashin - psychology professor *

Louis Rasminsky Louis Rasminsky (February 1, 1908 – September 15, 1998) was a Canadian economist who served as the third governor of the Bank of Canada from 1961 to 1973, succeeding James Elliott Coyne, James Coyne. He was succeeded by Gerald Bouey. Bo ...

- former Governor of the

Bank of Canada The Bank of Canada (BoC; ) is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation and Canada's central bank. Chartered in 1934 under the ''Bank of Canada Act'', it is responsible for formulating Canada's monetary policy,OECD. OECD Economic Surve ...

* Harry Rosen — clothier *

Lee Ross Lee David Ross (August 25, 1942 – May 14, 2021) was a Canadian-American professor. He held the title of the Stanford Federal Credit Union Professor of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University and was an influential social psychologist wh ...

- social psychologist *

Morley Safer Morley Safer (November 8, 1931 – May 19, 2016) was a Canadian-American broadcast journalist, reporter, and correspondent for CBS News. He was best known for his long tenure on the news magazine ''60 Minutes'', whose cast he joined in 1970 af ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

News Anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

* Anna Sandor -

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

* Sam Shopsowitz - founder of Shopsy's restaurant * Sam Sniderman - founder of

Sam the Record Man Sam the Record Man was a Canadian Record shop, record store chain that, at one time, was Canada's largest music recording retailer. In 1982, its ads proclaimed that it had "140 locations, coast to coast". Its iconic flagship store was located a ...

* Steven Staryk -

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist *

Gordon Stulberg Gordon T. Stulberg (17 December 1923 – 12 October 2000) was a Canadian-American film executive and lawyer, best known for a long stint as president and chief operating officer of 20th Century Fox and Cinema Center Films and PolyGram Pictures.< ...

- President of

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

Kiefer Sutherland Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland (born 21 December 1966) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his starring role as Jack Bauer in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox drama series ''24 (TV series), 24'' (2001–2010, 20 ...

- actor * Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster (Wayne and Shuster) -

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

s * Philip White - former Mayor of York, Ontario

Demographics

From the 1920s to the 1950s, about 90% of the student body was Jewish. Today, the student body largely consists of students of

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

and Portuguese descent, which is representative of the surrounding neighbourhoods. Many of the clubs at Harbord are reflective of the ethnic groups present. The Harbord language program offers courses in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, French, Portuguese and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. Harbord has three French programs: Immersion, Extended and Core French. These classes offer students an opportunity to become

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

in Canada's official languages. Harbord also has a full ESL (English as a Second Language) program which helps students new to Canada to learn English.

Clubs

The Student Activity Council, or SAC, is one of the largest student-run organisation at Harbord Collegiate Institute. ''TigerTalk'' is Harbord's official newspaper. It covers topics related to the school as well as a variety of other topics. It has won awards from the Toronto Star's high school newspaper competition. The

Key Club Key Club International, also called Key Club, is an international service organization for high school students. Key Club International is the high school branch of the Kiwanis International family, classified as a Service Leadership Program ...

is an international student-led organisation which aims to provide its members with opportunities to provide service, build character and develop leadership." The Business Club gather at lunch and/or after school to learn about business topics. They participate in business competitions including DECA and JA Titan. The "Tiger Techs" are Harbord's robotics team. They participate as team 919 in the

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition operated by ''FIRST''®. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work to build robots capable of competing in that year's game. Robots c ...

Arts

Visual Arts

Harbord offers a visual arts program for each grade exposing students to materials, concepts and skills. Studios offer lessons in drawing, painting, ceramics, printmaking, photography, animation, design, and life drawing. Studies in design allow students to partake in fashion design (an annual fashion show), architectural design and interior design as well as text and graphic design. Art history is woven into the assignments as is theory in aesthetics. Student work can be viewed at the Creative Arts Festival held every year.

Band

The band program goes from the Grade 9 Beginner Band to the Grade 12 Senior Band. Instruments in the band include

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

and

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

. The band performs at assemblies and concerts.

Vocal

The classes range from Grade 9 Beginner Vocal to Senior Vocal. There is a Cantemus Choir at Harbord that sings for events inside and outside of Harbord. The choir has participated in the Kiwanis Festival.

Strings

The classes include the Grade 9 Beginner Strings, the Junior Strings and the Senior Strings. Instruments available for strings at Harbord include:

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

and

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

. Harbord's String Quartet won First Prize at last year's

Kiwanis Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. In 1987, the organization ...

Festival. The Chamber Orchestra has performed at other venues such as Massey Hall, and George Weston Hall. The Strings Chamber Orchestra plays at school events.

"Onward Harbord"

"Onward Harbord" is Harbord's official song, and is sung along with the school band playing at the same time. It is sung to the tune of the fight song "

On, Wisconsin! "On, Wisconsin!" is the fight song of the Wisconsin Badgers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. A version with modified lyrics is the official state song of Wisconsin. "On, Wisconsin!" was also the cry that Arthur MacArthur Jr. used in the B ...

"; Harbord is one of some 2,500 schools using some variation of this piece as their school song.

References

External links

Harbord Collegiate Institute

Harbord Club (Alumni Association)
{{Toronto High Schools High schools in Toronto Schools in the TDSB Educational institutions established in 1892 1892 establishments in Ontario