Ursuline College (Chatham)
Encyclopedia
Ursuline College Chatham (AKA The Pines, UCC) is a Catholic
secondary school in Chatham-Kent
, Ontario
, Canada
. It is one of three secondary schools in the St. Clair Catholic District School Board
(the other two being located in the city of Sarnia
, Ontario), and is one of seven secondary schools located in the regional municipality of Chatham-Kent. The school has more than 1400 students enrolled, making it the largest high school in Chatham-Kent.
In 1992, UCC adopted a uniform policy. The uniform consists of either a dress shirt or golf shirt emblazoned with "UCC" and the logo of the school, respectively, and navy blue or khaki pants and shorts. The option to wear a kilt is available for the female population of the school. After ending the contract with the Freeds company in 2005, RJ McCarthy was given the rights to sell the school's uniforms.
In 2007, Dan Tighe, then principal of the school, was named one of Canada's Outstanding Principals.
Non-academic Departments
Foods whose menu and its nutritious aspects has been highly questioned, is between the Xavier and Merici (both of whom were also Sisters of the Ursuline order) buildings. The library is closest to the Denomy building, and is next to the administrative offices.
The Denomy building contains the only science labs in the school, as well as holding the arts department. The Merici building contains the social sciences, a small chapel used for some sacraments, and theology studies. The Xavier building generally has mathematics and language studies housed in it, as well as housing the guidance department. Each building has a computer lab and at least one washroom for each gender.
The school is widely believed to have the best arts program in the region, having a modern theatre and a considerable stock of musical instruments. The school runs two bands, each with over 30 attendees, and in most years a musical is run (2007 is an exception, although a charity musical, Little Women was held outside of the school year). Both bands have traveled across continental America, and in 2007 the Jazz Ensemble won its first gold award in Halifax's Atlantic Band Festival. As well, the school has an extensive communications laboratory, which includes a dark-room and functional television broadcasting equipment, which is used on occasion to present sporting events. UCC is a school that still allows soda to be sold on school property.
There are two sporting venues and a practice field on campus at UCC.
Knight's Field is the football
field at UCC. It is located beside the practice field at the north end of the campus. It has a press-box and a scoreboard and has been renovated with donations from the local councils of the Knights of Columbus
. Games are broadcast on the local school-based television channel. The school uses its gymnasium for other indoor sports.
The UCC Lancer senior football program has enjoyed some extremely successful championship winning seasons locally, as well as a couple appearances in the SWOSSA Regionals and Finals, while the junior teams were undefeated until the 2009 season when they lost in the first round of the play-offs to the Wallaceburg Tartans
The UCC Cheerleading
team (level 3 co-ed limited)has won many competitions in the past year, they competed in "Cheer Alliance" Fall Classics, Great Lakes Christmas Challenge in the US and The UCC Cheerleading Team recently competed in the "Cheer Alliance" Provincial Competition and placed first at all of them. The Cheerleading Squad has placed 3rd place at the Nationals for 3 consecutive years now.
Each year a major play is produced. Most all of the arts department is involved in this endeavor. The play runs for several days yearly in May. However, in 2009, 2010 and 2011 the school performed "Seussical the Musical", "AIDA
" and "Beauty and the Beast
" in late April. Past performances also include "Cinderella
", "CATS", "The King and I
", "Children of Eden
", "Fiddler on the Roof
", "Godspell
", "Guys and Dolls", "The Sound of Music
", "Little Shop of Horrors
" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
". In 2007, the school did not put a musical out, except for the charity play "Little Women
", which ran during the summer.
Students also participate in the yearly Sears Festival and have won top honors in year 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2009. The 2003 production "The Rash" won locally for best festival entry and went on to win the "Oscars" in Sudbury. The 2009 production of 'MacBraveheart,' written and directed by students Chris Luis and Mackenzie Warner, won a plethora of awards at the local level and was selected to move on to the Regional competition in Brantford.
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
secondary school in Chatham-Kent
Chatham-Kent, Ontario
Chatham–Kent is a unitary authority in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Mostly rural, its centres of population are Blenheim, Chatham, Dresden, Ridgetown, Tilbury and Wallaceburg. Modern Chatham–Kent was created in 1998 by the merger of Kent County and its municipalities.- History :The former city of...
, 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....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is one of three secondary schools in the St. Clair Catholic District School Board
St. Clair Catholic District School Board
The St. Clair Catholic District School Board manages Catholic education in the county of Lambton including the city of Sarnia as well as in the regional municipality of Chatham-Kent, in southern Ontario, Canada....
(the other two being located in the city of Sarnia
Sarnia, Ontario
Sarnia is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada . It is the largest city on Lake Huron and is located where the upper Great Lakes empty into the St. Clair River....
, Ontario), and is one of seven secondary schools located in the regional municipality of Chatham-Kent. The school has more than 1400 students enrolled, making it the largest high school in Chatham-Kent.
History
Ursuline College Chatham (UCC) was founded by the Ursuline Sisters as a girls-only school in 1912, and was run by the Ursuline Sisters until the late 20th century, when it became a coed school. The school is now run by the St. Clair Catholic District School Board, and is the only Catholic English high school in the municipality of Chatham-Kent. Ursuline College gets its nickname "The Pines" from all the pine trees that used to surround it. Though not many remain, the nickname stuck.In 1992, UCC adopted a uniform policy. The uniform consists of either a dress shirt or golf shirt emblazoned with "UCC" and the logo of the school, respectively, and navy blue or khaki pants and shorts. The option to wear a kilt is available for the female population of the school. After ending the contract with the Freeds company in 2005, RJ McCarthy was given the rights to sell the school's uniforms.
In 2007, Dan Tighe, then principal of the school, was named one of Canada's Outstanding Principals.
Academics
Academic Departments (& Current Department Heads)- Arts (Michael Milner)
- Business Studies & Co-operative Education (Michael Dodok)
- English (Camilla Dunn)
- Guidance (Adolph Estoesta)
- Languages (Amelia Villaranda)
- Mathematics (Myra Taylor-Joyce)
- Physical & Health Education (Jeff Denomy)
- Religion Studies (Christopher Gutteridge)
- Resource (Dureck Culverwell)
- Science (Paul Teetzel)
- Social Sciences (Joseph Vasko)
- Technology (Wolf Marty)
Non-academic Departments
- Campus Ministry (Chaplain Margaret Palmer)
- Library Services (Head Librarian Deb FitzGerald)
School Building
The school is a I-shaped building, consisting of three buildings of roughly equal size, and two connecting hallways. The youngest building, named after Sister Anne Denomy, contains the recently re-built theater, and is unusual for the school in that it is only two storeys high. The other buildings are both older, and have three storeys containing about 16-27 classrooms each. The cafeteria, run by AramarkAramark
Aramark Corporation, known commonly as Aramark, is an American foodservice, facilities, and clothing provider supplying businesses, educational institutions, sports facilities, federal and state prisons, and health care institutions. It is headquartered at the Aramark Tower in Center City,...
Foods whose menu and its nutritious aspects has been highly questioned, is between the Xavier and Merici (both of whom were also Sisters of the Ursuline order) buildings. The library is closest to the Denomy building, and is next to the administrative offices.
The Denomy building contains the only science labs in the school, as well as holding the arts department. The Merici building contains the social sciences, a small chapel used for some sacraments, and theology studies. The Xavier building generally has mathematics and language studies housed in it, as well as housing the guidance department. Each building has a computer lab and at least one washroom for each gender.
Unique Features
As a Catholic school, Ursuline College demands four years of theology courses in order to graduate from the school, although the school does have a "World Religion" class in Grade 11. All of these courses comply with the Ontario Ministry of Education Curriculum Expectations. The school thus teaches effectively straight Roman Catholicism from Grade 9 until graduation. Attendees of the school are expected to maintain "Catholic values", but a great many of the school's students are not of the Roman Catholic faith.The school is widely believed to have the best arts program in the region, having a modern theatre and a considerable stock of musical instruments. The school runs two bands, each with over 30 attendees, and in most years a musical is run (2007 is an exception, although a charity musical, Little Women was held outside of the school year). Both bands have traveled across continental America, and in 2007 the Jazz Ensemble won its first gold award in Halifax's Atlantic Band Festival. As well, the school has an extensive communications laboratory, which includes a dark-room and functional television broadcasting equipment, which is used on occasion to present sporting events. UCC is a school that still allows soda to be sold on school property.
Athletics
UCC "Lancer" athletic teams are some of the most successful teams in South Western Ontario Secondary School Athletics (SWOSSA) and even in the province of Ontario.There are two sporting venues and a practice field on campus at UCC.
Knight's Field is the football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
field at UCC. It is located beside the practice field at the north end of the campus. It has a press-box and a scoreboard and has been renovated with donations from the local councils of the Knights of Columbus
Knights of Columbus
The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded in the United States in 1882, it is named in honor of Christopher Columbus....
. Games are broadcast on the local school-based television channel. The school uses its gymnasium for other indoor sports.
The UCC Lancer senior football program has enjoyed some extremely successful championship winning seasons locally, as well as a couple appearances in the SWOSSA Regionals and Finals, while the junior teams were undefeated until the 2009 season when they lost in the first round of the play-offs to the Wallaceburg Tartans
The UCC Cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
team (level 3 co-ed limited)has won many competitions in the past year, they competed in "Cheer Alliance" Fall Classics, Great Lakes Christmas Challenge in the US and The UCC Cheerleading Team recently competed in the "Cheer Alliance" Provincial Competition and placed first at all of them. The Cheerleading Squad has placed 3rd place at the Nationals for 3 consecutive years now.
Theatre Arts
UCC is widely known for its impressive Drama Department. With the UCC Theatre Opening in 2003, the theatre has allowed the school to host its own performances on campus. The theatre features a Box Office in the Main Entrance, 507 seats, a modern lighting and sound system, orchestra pit, a large stage with "loading door" access for loading and catwalk that extends over the entire theatre and holds the lighting in place.Each year a major play is produced. Most all of the arts department is involved in this endeavor. The play runs for several days yearly in May. However, in 2009, 2010 and 2011 the school performed "Seussical the Musical", "AIDA
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
" and "Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740...
" in late April. Past performances also include "Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
", "CATS", "The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
", "Children of Eden
Children of Eden
Children of Eden is a two-act musical play with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John Caird. The musical is based on the Book of Genesis. Act I tells the story of Adam and Eve, Cain, and Abel, and Act II deals with Noah and the Flood...
", "Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
", "Godspell
Godspell
Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...
", "Guys and Dolls", "The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
", "Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...
" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...
". In 2007, the school did not put a musical out, except for the charity play "Little Women
Little Women
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott . The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869...
", which ran during the summer.
Students also participate in the yearly Sears Festival and have won top honors in year 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2009. The 2003 production "The Rash" won locally for best festival entry and went on to win the "Oscars" in Sudbury. The 2009 production of 'MacBraveheart,' written and directed by students Chris Luis and Mackenzie Warner, won a plethora of awards at the local level and was selected to move on to the Regional competition in Brantford.
Elementary Feeder Schools
- Christ the King Elementary School (Wallaceburg)
- Georges P. Vanier Elementary School (Chatham)
- Good Shepherd Elementary School (Thamesville)
- Holy Family Elementary School (Wallaceburg)
- Monsignor Uyen Elementary School (Chatham)
- Our Lady of Fatima Elementary School (Chatham)
- St. Agnes Elementary School (Chatham)
- St. Anne Elementary School (Blenheim)
- St. Elizabeth Elementary School (Wallaceburg)
- St. Joseph Elementary School (Chatham)
- St. Joseph Elementary School (Tilbury)
- St. Mary Elementary School (Blenheim)
- St. Michael Elementary School (Dresdan)
- St. Michael Elementary School (Ridgetown)
- St. Ursula Elementary School (Chatham)
- St. Vincent Elementary School (Chatham)
- Walpole Island Elementary School (Walpole Island First Nation)