William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute


William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute, formerly known as Southview Heights Secondary School is a semestered high school located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school was opened in 1960 by the North York Board of Education, and is located near Sheppard Avenue West and Allen Road near Sheppard West station.

History

Southview Heights Secondary was built in 1959 and opened in September 1960 to accommodate the skyrocketing number of new students in what was then known as North York, and to ease overcrowding at Northview Heights Secondary School. From the beginning, it was slated to be a junior high school.
Being located near another high school, Northview Heights Institute of Technology, the school is rumoured to have been called "Southview Heights Institute of Technology", because of the provocative initials. Ultimately, a contest for the school's name was held and William Lyon Mackenzie, the first mayor of Toronto and leader of the Upper Canada Rebellion in 1837, was selected.
The school, in its inception, had 90% of the Jewish student population that lived in the Bathurst Manor neighborhood.

Students

The school is known for the high academic standards of its students. The Fraser Institute ranks it as the best TDSB secondary school. Over 95% of its graduating students are accepted into a post-secondary institutions. Additionally, 50% of graduating students earn an 80% average in all of their subjects, qualifying them to become Ontario Scholars. In 2013, the students with the highest averages in the entire TDSB were Mackenzie students Geoffrey Yu and Ryan Gotesman, with averages of 99.7%.
The school is also known for its student-run organization, SWITCH. Founded in 2006, SWITCH's goal is to make Canada more environmentally friendly through various environmental initiatives — the most prominent of which is the installation of solar panels and wind turbines on school grounds. Through this organization, Mackenzie has gained national media attention due to events featuring David Suzuki, Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies, MuchMusic and members of Sum 41.

Specialty programs

MaCS Program

The MaCS Program began in 1985; it offers enriched English, Mathematics, Science and Technology courses for advanced students. Students applying for the MaCS Program must undertake an entrance exam and complete a comprehensive application package. The MaCS Program begins at grade nine and runs until grade twelve. A significant number of the school's students are part of the MaCS Program - there are 90 positions for students joining the MaCS program in grade nine. The acceptance rate for the MaCS program was 12.8% for the 2018-2019 school year. Students in the MaCS program can take Advanced Placement exams and start computer science courses in grade nine, which is a field that is normally not available until grade ten. The MaCS program was one of the first enriched math, science and technology programs created for secondary school students. Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute's TOPS program is similar. Bloor Collegiate Institute has also developed a similar TOPS program in recent years.

Gifted Program

The Gifted Program is an enriched program available to gifted students. The program begins at Grade Nine and runs until Grade Twelve. Five to ten percent of William Lyon Mackenzie's student population is part of the Gifted Program.

Advanced Placement (AP) Program

The Advanced Placement Program has been active at the school since 2002 with the AP Computer Science course. AP Calculus and Chemistry has also been added to the school's Advanced Placement Program. The AP Biology and AP French will be implemented for students who wish to pursue enriched learning in 2011. As of 2018 the only available AP classes were Calculus, Economics, and Computer Science

FIT Program

The school offers a national certification program known as the FIT Program that will enable students to earn industry standard certifications in programming and engineering, and in Media & Communications Arts. The program is made possible through the Information and Communications Technology Council of Canada as part of the Education/Sector Council Partnership Project. Usually, it is the students in the MaCS program that attain the FIT certification.. Retrieved November 24, 2011. Students who completed all the required courses are eligible for the FIT Plus Certificate if they do a Cooperative component or summer internship in a field related to Engineering, Programming or Media Communication & Arts.
The following courses must be completed to receive the FIT Certificate: Computer Science, Cisco IT Essentials, Media Arts, and a co-operative education component.

Sports

The school's sports teams include: badminton, wrestling, rugby, boys' and girls' field hockey, boys' and girls' volleyball, boys' and girls' soccer, and boys' varsity baseball.

Notable alumni