O'Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute is located in Oshawa

Oshawa

Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario approximately 60 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. It is now commonly referred to as the most...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 within the Durham District School Board

Durham District School Board

The Durham District School Board is a public school board in Ontario, Canada. The DDSB serves most of the Regional Municipality of Durham, except for schools within the Municipality of Clarington, which belongs to the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board...

. The school has students in grades 9-12 and offers a wide range of academic and extracurricular activities.

History

O'Neill CVI is the oldest secondary school in Oshawa, opened in its present location in 1909 as Oshawa High School. High school classes had been held in the Central Public School downtown for many year prior to this, so the school's roots go back well into the 19th century. The original building is still in the core of the school, but is not visible from outside.

After several major expansions during the 1920s, OHS became Oshawa Collegiate and Vocational Institute in 1930. In the Post-war era, when Oshawa began building other high schools, OCVI was renamed O'Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute after long-time principal, Albert O'Neill, who had led its expansion and transition to collegiate status. O'Neill celebrated its 75th anniversary (as OCVI, though it's actually much older when the OHS days are included) in 2005 with a large mural in the library and a huge reunion of students and teachers.

Academics

O'Neill is home to both a Performing Arts program (PA) and a Visual Arts program (VA), as well as a Gifted program for identified Gifted and Enriched students. PA and VA programs draw students from across Durham Region, and O'Neill was mentioned in the Toronto Star as a prestigious arts school in Southern Ontario. The Gifted program, however, only draws students from across Oshawa, as the other cities in Durham Region have their own Gifted schools. O'Neill also offers Advanced Placement courses for students in grades 11 and 12.

Due to O'Neill's large amounts of Gifted and Enriched students, O'Neill far surpassed the Durham Board of Education's average on the EQAO testing to be one of the top schools in the region.

Extracurriculars

O'Neill offers many extracurriculars, such as several choirs and bands; the School Reach team; sports teams in football, soccer, rugby, cross country, curling, basketball, volleyball, golf, and others; STAR (Students Together Against Racism); the school newspaper, the O'Neill Promethean; the Spirit Committee; Chess Club: Environmental Club; Ping Pong club; the Model UN; the Breakfast Club; and numerous other clubs.

Notable alumni

• Wayne Cashman
  Wayne Cashman
  Wayne Cashman is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and a former NHL head coach.-Playing career:Cashman played his junior hockey as a teammate of Bobby Orr's on the Oshawa Generals of the OHA...
  
  , NHL hockey player and member of Team Canada 1972 which has brought many students to have an interest in hockey.
• Tim Deegan
  Tim Deegan
  Tim Deegan is a former VJ on MuchMusic, a music television station in Canada.-Early life:Tim grew up in Oshawa east of Toronto and he attended O'Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute, and had a part time job at a grocery store. Tim joined a band during high school, which played handfuls of...
  
  , MuchMusic
  MuchMusic
  MuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...
  
   VJ
• Kathryn Humphreys
  Kathryn Humphreys
  Kathryn Humphreys is a Canadian sports anchor for CityNews at Six and CityNews Tonight. She was previously with CityNews Weekend which she joined in March 1997....
  
  , Citytv
  Citytv
  Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...
  
   Sports Specialist
• Suzie Pollard
  Suzie Pollard
  Suzie Pollard is a Canadian actress. She was one of the stars in the television series Beyond the Break as Dawn Preston. She has also had guest appearances on CSI: NY and Malcolm in the Middle....
  
  , actress and model
• Ed Broadbent
  Ed Broadbent
  John Edward "Ed" Broadbent, is a Canadian social democratic politician and political scientist. He was leader of the federal New Democratic Party from 1975 to 1989. In the 2004 federal election, he returned to Parliament for one additional term as the Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre.-Life...
  
  , politician
• Shalom Harlow
  Shalom Harlow
  Shalom Harlow is a Canadian model and actress.-Life and career:Harlow was born in Oshawa, Ontario, the daughter of Sandi Herbert and David Harlow. Though her mother named her Shalom , meaning "peace" in Hebrew, her family is not Jewish. She was discovered at a Cure concert in Toronto and started...
  
  , model/actress
• Allan Pilkey
  Allan Pilkey
  Allan Pilkey is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as mayor of Oshawa, and was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995.-Background:...
  
  , Minister of Correctional Services and Solicitor General (1991)
• Donald Jackson
  Donald Jackson
  Donald George Jackson, CM is a retired Canadian figure skater. He captured four Canadian titles and a bronze medal at the 1960 Winter Olympics...
  
  , Olympic Figure Skater

External links

• O'Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute