Westmount Secondary School

This article is about the secondary (high school) in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. For other secondary schools, see Westmount (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Westmount High School.

Westmount Secondary School
Address
39 Montcalm Drive Hamilton , Ontario , L9C 4B1 Canada
Coordinates	43°13′38″N79°53′45″W / 43.22722°N 79.89583°W / 43.22722; -79.89583
Information
School type	Secondary school
Motto	Laboris Dulcedo
School board	HWDSB
Superintendent	Paul Denomme
Area trustee	Becky Buck
School number	952478
Principal	Geeta Malhotra
Grades	9–12
Enrolment	1540 [1]  (21 September 2014)
Language	English
Colour(s)	Blue & White
Mascot	The Wildcats
Newspaper	The Westmount Procrastinator [2]
Public transit access	HSR 41 Mohawk and 35 College
Special Programs	Advanced Placement Self-Paced, Self-Directed Sports Academy Specialist High Skills Major
Website	www.hwdsb.on.ca/westmount/

Westmount Secondary School is a secondary school in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is a member of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. The school opened in 1961, and has a 2017-2018 enrolment of 1520 students.

Programs

The school is a member of the Canadian Coalition of Self-Directed Learning. Westmount also offers gifted classes, special education classes, as well as an ESL program.

Since 1990, Westmount has operated under a self-directed learning program; more commonly referred to as a self-paced environment. This allows students to be able to complete work at their own pace, by enabling them with the abilities to carry over unfinished courses into the next semester, or fast-track them and finish earlier. It is one of the only schools with this program in Canada, and often plays host to international visitors wishing to view the teaching process in person. It is also home to a "sports academy", in which students looking to gain a career in professional sports may hone their skills. Because of the self pacing program, these students are able to be absent from school, without falling behind in their classes. Westmount is also home to a newly instituted Advanced Placement program, and one of Hamilton's best gifted programs. It also has a growing Media Arts and Animation program, and owns a Macintosh computer lab with a separate Macintosh network. Approximately 35% of computers used at Westmount are Apple Mac computers.

Westmount is a multicultural school. The student population consists of a variety of religions and ethnicities. The school is also home to both Christian and Muslim prayer societies, each meeting occasionally to carry out religious tasks.

It is currently the only secondary school in Hamilton to make it into the Fraser Institute's top 100 High Schools in Ontario, ranked at #84 out of 718. ^[3]

In 2019, its Reach for the Top team – coached by Jay Misuk – became the first team from Hamilton to qualify for the national championship after finishing second at provincials. The Westmount team subsequently won the national title match against a team from Lisgar Collegiate Institute. ^{[4] [5]}

Notable alumni

• Summer Mortimer Paralympic swimmer and world record holder
• Tony Peebles member of Grammy award-winning Pacific Mambo Orchestra ^[6]
• Elias Dummer member of Juno award-winning The City Harmonic ^[7]
• Paul Chafe, author/soldier
• Patrick McKenna, actor
• Haydain Neale, musician, with Jacksoul (deceased) ^[8]
• Wei Chen, Host, CBC Radio One, Ontario Morning
• Jim Witter, Musician ^[9]
• Michael Simoncic, Professional Football Player, Ottawa Rough Riders 1995-1996, Canadian Football League. ^[10]
• Jeffery Croonen, Professional Football Player, CFL 1989 to 1993, 2 Grey Cup wins. Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Edmonton Eskimos, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts.
• Bruce Boyko, Professional Football Player, CFL 1990 to 1999, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and BC Lions. ^[11]
• Allan Boyko, Professional Football Player, CFL 1991 to 1997, Saskatchewan Roughriders & Winnipeg Blue Bombers. ^[12]
• Adam Clarke, musician, Rarity (band)
• Evan Woods, musician, Rarity (band)

See also

• List of high schools in Ontario

References

1. Westmount School Profile
2. Foundry, The Theme. "Westmount Student Newspaper". Westmount Student Newspaper.
3. "Compare academic rankings and ratings of Ontario schools". ontario.compareschoolrankings.org.
4. Paddon, Natalie (May 24, 2019). "From 'Harry Potter' to the solar system: Westmount trivia team heads to Reach for the Top national championship". Hamilton Spectator . Retrieved December 19, 2019.
5. "Westmount wins national Reach for the Top competition". Hamilton Spectator . May 28, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
6. Feiner, Lauren. "Penn alum wins Grammy". www.thedp.com.
7. "The City Harmonic Calls It Quits With Benediction Live". www.thespec.com.
8. "Haydain Neale". IMDb.
9. "Jim Witter's Biography". Archived from the original on 2009-03-22. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
10. 1995 Ottawa Rough Riders season
11. "Bruce Boyko". www.cflapedia.com.
12. "Allan Boyko". www.cflapedia.com.

Sources

• Hamilton Community Foundation. Protecting Our Environment Together (POET): Youth Focus 2004-2005 Grants. Retrieved June 30, 2005.
• Fitzgerald, Tony: "Westmount students making waves", The Hamilton Spectator , (23 February 2005)
• Eastwood, Joel:"The Spirit of Westmount", The Hamilton Spectator, (17 January 2006)
• Welcome, hwdsb.on.ca, Retrieved December 21, 2010.
• Simoncic, Michael": 1995 Ottawa Rough Riders season", Wikipedia - C.F.L., (28 May 2012)