Founded 1960 (1960) Principal Sarah MacDonald Province Ontario | School number 882025 Phone +1 905-668-5809 Mascot Raider | |
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School type Public Secondary School Area trustee Christine WintersKim Zeppieri Similar Sinclair Secondary School, All Saints Catholic Secondar, Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic, St Mary Catholic Secondar, O'Neill Collegiate and Voca | ||
Anderson Collegiate Vocational Institute (Anderson CVI, Anderson Collegiate, Anderson, or ACVI) is located in Whitby, Ontario within the Durham District School Board. Established in 1960, the school has students in grades 9–12 and offers a wide range of academic and extracurricular activities. The school is well known for its robust Arts program, particularly Drama. Anderson is the only high school in Whitby that offers the gifted program, providing an enriched and accelerated curriculum for students in specific courses from grades 9 to 11. Anderson's feeder elementary schools are Bellwood Public School, C E Broughton Public School, Dr. Robert Thornton Public School, Pringle Creek Public School (Regular & Gifted), and Jack Miner Public School (Gifted Only).
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In 2007, then Principal John Morrison was named one of Canada's Outstanding Principals.
The Culture of Peace Committee has worked on a wide variety of social and humanitarian issues within the school and in the community. Sub-committees of this organization work on things like Remembrance Day assemblies, Amnesty International efforts, and occasionally bring in guest speakers like Eva Olsson, a Holocaust survivor; Roméo Dallaire, a former commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda; and James Bartleman, then Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
Drama
Anderson's Dramatic Arts program is well known throughout the region. Early teachers such as Mr. L. Kosurko set the standard for the inclusive nature of the department. The extracurricular program began to explode in 1992 with a production of Macbeth. Performances became more and more ambitious, largely due to the close teacher team: Ms. K. Ennis, Mr. A. Epema, Mrs. M. Rodgers, Mr. M. Trites, and Mr. D. Craven. Productions have included Neil Simon's Rumors, James Reaney's Handcuffs, Romeo and Juliet, The Martian Chronicles, The Who's Tommy and Amadeus. Fifty Shades of Gray (dir: Stravato), starred up-and-coming actor Kyle DiSante. Romeo and Juliet (dir: Epema), starred A. J. Cook as Juliet. Anderson was the first high school in the Durham Region of Ontario to produce The Laramie Project (dir: Rodgers), amid some controversy. The real comedians perform at D-Bag Theatre (dir: Trites), Stay Tuned (dir: Craven) and an Improv Team (which has been student-led for fifteen years). Anderson was a regular participant in the Sears Drama Festival. The success of the Drama Program has largely been due to the dedication of staff and students, and the strength of the community which has grown up around the Drama Room, 107.
During 2014, the improvisation lunch meetings were a huge success for the school, followed by a production of Spontaneous Combustion, a play written by members of the school. It was followed the next year with Gamer Girls, written by Anderson's own Mr. D. Craven. At the same time, another play was introduced entitled The Mudbone Chronicles, written by Mr. S. Stravato. This play was another successful project for the school, grossing the highest yet for any school production.
Technology
In the Technology Department, a number of ambitious projects are underway. In 2005, two students constructed cedar strip canoes as their Independent Study Project under the tutelage of Mr. Mark Backman. Another project is pulling together skills from all the shops. It is the construction, from scratch, of a clone of the iconic 1960s Lotus 7 sports car. The project is based on the specifications for a Locost sports car design by British educator and engineer, Ron Champion. Project Co-ordinator is Mr. Austin Epema, automotive consultant is Mr. Dave Dickie, and Metal Fabrication consultant is Mr. Dave Clark. Computer aided design and blueprinting is supervised by Mr. Stefano Stravato. The project is being built primarily by students. Generous financial aid has come from local businesses. The finished product was raffled off with proceeds going to local charities.