Established in 1927 and designed by architect George Roper Gouinlock, son of George Wallace Gouinlock, the Collegiate Gothic school was originally known as East York High School, but it soon merged with a local vocational school and extended the building capacity; it gained its current name a decade later. Additions such as the auditorium, double gym, and classrooms were added during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1988, East York Collegiate received major renovations such as the new wing in the north and south, and a second double gym costed at $9.9-million in a similar manner to Scarborough's R.H. King Collegiate Institute during their renovations in 1976. Save for the entrance arch, the original school and components of the building were demolished and now serve as a parking lot. The modern school was designed by architects Page and Steele.
School life
Sports & Athletics
EYCI has an athletics program, with strong showings by its Senior Boys' Football team, Senior Boys' Hockey team, Varsity Girls' Hockey team, as well as both the Junior and Senior Boys' Soccer squads. Historically from the 1950s to the 1980s, the school was a perennial powerhouse in Canadian-rules Football and Baseball. The Senior Boys Cross Country team also qualified for OFSAA in the Fall of 2009 and 2010. Girls Junior Basketball team 09/10 won the city championship. East York is one of the few high schools to have a Flag football team. The Varsity Girls' Flag Football team has been very successful since forming in 2007, winning silver in their first year and gold for the next two years in the TDSSAA Regional finals. They currently have made the TSSAA City Championships during their 2008 and 2009 seasons, winning gold and silver respectively.
Co-curricular programs
Robotics Since 2002, East York Collegiate Institute has been involved with the FIRST Robotics CompetitionFIRST Robotics, an international competition in which professionals and high school students are teamed together to solve an engineering design problem in an intense yet cooperative way. In 2002, the East York FIRST Robotics Team won the Highest Rookie Seed Award in recognition of the Highest Placed Rookie of Robotics in Canada. In 2011, East York's Team 907, placed in the Semi-Finals at the Greater Toronto Area Regional and placed twice again in the Semi-Finals at Greater Toronto Regional East and the Greater Toronto Regional West in 2012. East York also won the Creativity Award for their 2012 Robot. Outreach East York's Outreach initiative emphasizes local and national opportunities that take an experiential learning and community service approach. East York's Team 907 has many growing outreach projects in Toronto including mentoring the younger Robotics Teams located in the Greater Toronto Area.
