The school was founded in November 1994 and teaches students from grade 9-12. Their athletic teams are called the "Prairie Wolves," or just the "Wolves."
History
Previously, Morinville was served by high schools in neighbouring towns: the older and larger settlement of St. Albert to the south, and the small agricultural village of Legal to the north. The Grey Nuns had established a small convent, schoolhouse, and hospital in what became St. Albert in 1864.[citation needed] The Catholic Church continued to dominate education in the region even after the first public school boards were formed, as most of the population was Catholic.[citation needed] In the earliest days, each school had its own board, and St. Albert had a school board as early as 1885 when the St. Albert Roman Catholic Public District no. 3 and nearby Bellerose Roman Catholic Public District no. 6 were formed to operate one-room schools that went up to grade 8, the legal requirement at the time (Bellerose School was later moved to Fort Edmonton Park, where it still stands).[citation needed]
The first school district founded in the Morinville area was the Thibault Roman Catholic School Public District.[citation needed] The school was named after the founder, Father Thibault, who started a mission and a school in 1892.[citation needed] Nearby Legal, Alberta got its school district in 1907, and later a secondary school: St. Emile High School.
For several decades, Morinville maintained an elementary school in town, with high schools to the north and south. In 1980, French immersion was officially offered in the Morinville schools, reversing decades of "English-only" policy in what hadoriginally been a Francophone settlement. [citation needed]
In 1993, Legal's St. Emile High School closed. The Thibault School District opened Morinville Community High School on November 3, 1994.[citation needed] The first principal of MCHS was Paul O’Dea.[citation needed]
When MCHS was first opened, the grade 9 hallway was not part of the school. It was added later when the number of grade 9 students in G.H. Primeau School was too high.[citation needed]
Courses and programs
Morinville Community High School offers many different Courses, including all courses required by the Province of Alberta, plus a wide selection of options. It also provides programs called iLearn and RAP. Quite a few of these courses are offered in French as well.
The Western Canadian Challenge (WCC) is an annual volleyball tournament that is hosted each October by Morinville Community High School. The tournament's sponsors are ASICS, Pepsi, United Cycle, Mizuno, and the Morinville Lions Club. The tournament has been every year since 1995, and has hosted as many as 96 teams from all over Canada and the United States, as well as a few teams from other countries.
School Mascot
The school teams play under the name "The Prairie Wolves" or simply "The Wolves". The school mascot is a wolf named Big Bad Joe.
Team Sports
MCHS supports teams in the following sports:
Volleyball
Basketball
Badminton
Curling
Golf
Track and field teams
Cross Country
Cheerleading (Stunt)
Intramural Sports
MCHS Moriniville community high school offers a number of intramural sports as well. These vary from year to year, and have included:
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