Newmarket High School
| Newmarket High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
 | |
505 Pickering Crescent , | |
| Information | |
| School type | Public |
| Motto | Labor Omnia Vincit (Work Conquers All) |
| Founded | 1843 |
| School board | York Region District School Board |
| Principal | Kelly Redpath |
| Grades | 9 through 12 (OAC) |
| Enrollment | 950 (10 August, 2006) |
| Language | English |
| Mascot | Raiders |
Newmarket High School is an Ontario secondary school located at 505 Pickering Crescent, off Mulock Drive in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. It is one of four high schools in Newmarket under the jurisdiction of the York Region District School Board (a fifth high school, Sacred Heart Catholic High School, is under the York Catholic District School Board) and currently educates approximately 950 students from Grades 9 to 12.
History
The school was originally founded in 1843 as a "grammar school", located on Raglan Street in Newmarket. As an institution, Newmarket High School is the second oldest high school in Ontario. This original school was built at a cost of $75 and could accommodate 46 students.
However, by the 1870s, Newmarket's growth had rendered the original school inadequate to the task of educating the town's youth. So, in 1876, at a cost of $6,000, a new building was constructed at the corner of Pearson and Prospect Streets in Newmarket, where the school was located for most of its history.
On March 16, 1893, a temperamental wood-burning furnace put an end to this building and its additions when it set off a fire that burnt the school to the ground.
In 1894, a new building was built on the same site, incorporating the new innovation of electricity. This building stood until March 31, 1928, when yet another fire, this one of mysterious origin, once again utterly reduced the school to ashes. The fires led to the adoption of the orange Phoenix bird as the school's official symbol.
The same year, yet another new school was built on the Pearson Street site, this one hailed as “one of the most modernized educational institutions in the Dominion of Canada.” This building stood for decades and underwent many additions and renovations over the years, most notably a major addition consisting of a classroom block and an additional gymnasium in the late 1950s, and a new school library in the 1960s.
Despite the additions, however, the 1960s saw an increasingly intolerable situation developing at Newmarket District High School, as it was then known. The school was overcrowded to the extent that not only did students have to share lockers, but the school day was also run in two shifts to accommodate everyone. The situation was addressed in 1962, when Huron Heights Secondary School was opened, providing Newmarket with a second high school.
By the 1990s, however, it had become clear that the existing building could no longer cope with local population growth and its facilities were becoming increasingly outdated. Plans were made to move the school to yet another site. This move (to the school's current location) was completed in October of 1996, with the previous building briefly housing Newmarket Public School before being torn down in 2000.
A significant portion of NHS's graduating classes go on to pursue post-secondary education at universities across Canada (mostly in Ontario). The most popular destinations include McMaster University, Wilfred Laurier University, Carleton University, University of Western Ontario, Brock University, and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A large portion of the enriched program's alumni attend prestigious programs at the University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, and Queen's University.
Sports and athletics
Newmarket High School sports teams are known as the NHS Raiders (a ferocious looking Viking pillager whose logo is not unlike that of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League) and generally perform well in boys' and girls' football and baseball.
The Raiders also field teams in:
- Boys'/Girls' Volleyball
- Track and field
- Swimming
- Badminton
- Curling (indoor)
- Boys'/Girls' Basketball
- Golf (3 time successive Cardinal Cup Champions)
On June 11, 2005, the Newmarket High School Raiders Girls' Softball team won their seventh straight regional championship with an 11-0 victory over their rivals, the Dr. John Denison Huskies. Robin Mackin, the Raiders' star pitcher, was named to the 2008 Canadian Olympic Softball Team that will represent the nation in Beijing, China and is currently on an athletic scholarship to Fresno State in Fresno, California.
Notable student groups
Newmarket High School boasts one of the finest arts and music programs in York Region as well as an excellent athletic program and an active and prominent student council. The school has long served as the home of the Newmarket-area gifted/enrichment program, although it began to share that responsibility with Huron Heights Secondary School in 2000. York Region's French immersion program will also be moved to Newmarket High from Aurora High School at the beginning of the 2006-07 school year, marking yet another example of a program initiative taking place at the school.
The Amnesty International Group, created and run by Miss Tanner has raised student awareness about the importance of issues such as human rights. The Stephen Lewis Foundation, a YRDSB initiative to raise awareness of AIDS in Africa began in 2004. The Stephen Lewis Committee began a fundraiser in which $1 400 was donated to the foundation by selling jewellery made by African children. In spring 2005, the committee did a penny drive, which raised another $500. Other clubs such as Youth Alive, a Christian-based community outreach program spearheaded in large part thanks to the efforts of Mr. Pichora and Mr. Finkle, have improved the quality of life in the school and the surrounding area by encouraging student participation in volunteer efforts and other worthy causes. Fundraising drives for Hurricane Katrina victims and the Kids Help Phone are two examples of some of Youth Alive's contributions. In the past, barbecues, with the distribution of free food, and have also been held to raise awareness through the school of the group itself.
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The Newmarket High School instrumental and jazz bands have been a key fixture of the Arts and Music program at the school for many years, and have competed in numerous regional and provincial competitions with a great deal of success. The band received Gold level ratings at the annual Paramount Canada's Wonderland spring Music Alive Festival in 2003 and 2004, and a Silver rating in 2005. NHS Music Night, held twice a year – normally in December during first semester and April or May in second semester – has also become a popular department tradition and received critical acclaim from local publications such as The Era Banner and York Region This Month.
Famous alumni
- Belinda Stronach (Canadian politician and business magnate - MP for the riding of Newmarket-Aurora)
- Peter Orr (Canadian Olympic baseball player and Atlanta Braves second-baseman)
- Tokyo Police Club (All the members of the band)